Hero
by SunshineFlowerBear
Summary: Natsu and Lucy from Fairy Tail are dealing with some emotions they had never dealt with before. How will they face this new challenge between them? Time-skips back and forth will happen. Rated M for mature content, language, lemons, limes...
1. 1: Takoyaki

**Hooray! The first chapter of my new story! **  
><strong>YAY FOR NALU!<strong>

**Please enjoy! :)**

**Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail. :)**  
><strong>I do not. :(<strong>

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><p>LUCY<p>

Lucy woke up to the first yellow rays of sun shining through her large window. She rubbed the back of her hand over her brown eyes and blinked, letting her tired eyes adjust to the warm sunlight bathing her small but sweet apartment in a refreshing glow. The blonde celestial spirit mage sat up in bed and looked out onto the street of Magnolia, people in the town were waking up and had began bustling about, completing their daily errands. A smile grew across her face, Natsu and Happy should be coming back today from their solo mission. She was invited along but it was up in the snow-covered mountains, and she hated the cold.

She yawned and climbed out of bed, scratching her head as she opened the door to her fridge. She had worn a large light blue t-shirt to bed that was long enough to hid her bright pink panties. She could only dress like this when Natsu was out of town. It was empty. _Yeesh... I never have food in this place when I actually want to eat._ She had the intention of making herself a big breakfast, but she was to lazy to go out to the market this morning, she didn't want to put on clothes yet. So she just grabbed a small shiny green apple off the counter and bit into it. The sweet taste flooding her mouth, the sound of the crunching of the sweet fruit the only noise in her ears. She was enjoying the fleeting quietness of her apartment. Usually she would wake up to Natsu and Happy cuddled in bed with her, hogging all the sheets. Once they woke up, the two would pester her to make them breakfast and to get ready quickly so they could start their day.

Natsu and Happy had always been morning people. Lucy, was not. It had really bothered her when they had first started barging in like that without permission. She had felt like her personal space was being violated by the duo who had warmed up to her quickly, accepting her into their team almost instantly. She had to literally throw both of them out the window for them to get the point that she needed some personal space. But that only lasted a few hours before they were barging back through her door again, beckoning her to join them to go on an adventure. She found Natsu's childish oblivious confidence, cute and charming, even though it had annoyed her on occasion.

After a couple of years of Natsu and Happy sneaking inside almost every day, Lucy was beginning to really enjoy the familiar company of those two. She just expected to find them cuddled with in her bed when she woke up every morning. They had even started to crawl into her bed at night before she even got home herself, which was annoying since Natsu would forget to take a shower. His sweat covered body stained her sheets. She would put on a big angry show to save face, there was no way she would give Natsu the satisfaction of knowing she actually enjoyed him staying there. But in all actuality, she really didn't mind it at all anymore. The comfort of knowing her best friend, partner and guild-mate would be there all the times, brought her comfort. It made her happy and warm, she felt safe and loved.

Her apartment was quiet, the birds chirped outside and she heard the quiet good mornings of others walking down the street. It made her uneasy, she enjoyed the quiet, but quickly ended up finding it lonely. Between Natsu, Happy and the rest of the guild, her quiet life as the Heartfilia heiress quickly came to an end. Everyday turned into an adventure and Lucy found she loved the rowdy loudness of her new family more than anything in the world.

"I can't stand this. It's way to quiet." She reached for her keys that sat at their usual spot on her desk and summoned Plue to keep her company. The tiny white celestial spirit looked more like a deformed snowman than a dog, but he smiled up at her as she picked him up to give him a hug. "Welcome back Plue!" She set him down and the happy spirit shuffled around clumsily on the floor, "Plu pluu!" He looked around confused, even the celestial spirit noticed her usual teammates were not there.

"Yea, they went on a solo mission the other day." Lucy looked sadly out the window, hoping she would see a blue flying cat and a pink-haired boy running down the road yelling her name. "They went on a mission a few days ago. They should be coming home soon."

She pulled out the chair at her desk and picked up her spirit to sit in her lap as she sat down. _I think I'll write to mom._ She rarely had the time to anymore, and her mind was riddled with confusing thoughts lately. She needed to put them down on paper so she could sort them out in her head. The conversation she had with Levy the other day had freaked Lucy out. They had a nice long talk after her and Gajeel returned to the guild from their last job an actual adorable, smitten, madly in love, couple.

_"Yea, Gajeel said since he had chosen me as his mate... the other dragon slayer's in the guild would probably start feeling the itch to do the same."_

Which would mean a mate. For Natsu.

Lucy shuddered at the idea. The word "mate" sounded dirty, even Levy agreed, though the script mage had told her being a 'mate' it was a highly meaningful thing, the word just bothered her for some reason. Lucy had an idea of who Natsu might pick. Lisanna made the absolute most sense to become Natsu's lifelong, forever mate. They had grown up together, and Lucy had heard that as kids, the two were pretty inseparable. They had an innocent and sweet childhood love for one another. Natsu was thrilled when she had come back with them from Edolas.

It made sense to Lucy, they would be good for each other. Though the thought saddened her. She felt a ball lump up in her throat and a pain flash through the back of her mind. _Why am I getting so upset over this? If anything, I should be happy for him if that happens._ Though, it probably would never happen with Natsu. He was so brain dense, even if he was having feelings of love and want for another person, it would probably just come off as a childish affection. He probably wouldn't even know what do with himself if he had those feelings for another person. She doubted that the dragon-slayer knew how to be romantic, or even knew what intimacy was. Thoughts like that probably never even occurred in his head.

Memories of Natsu holding her in a hug occasionally after they had completed dangerous missions flashed in her mind. Sometimes the fire dragon slayer did and said really sweet, deep, caring things that shocked Lucy. But she figured it was a fluck thing, considering that usually the next thing out of his mouth was something idiotic.

She scribbled on the page and Plue sat in her lap tapping his hands on the desk, kicking his legs against hers.

She remembered Levy telling her some time ago, "_Oh Lu, you love him! You should really just come to terms with your feelings."_

Love Natsu Dragneel. Sure she had sweet feelings for the pink-haired idiot, sure he made her heart jump in her chest whenever she saw him, sure she wanted to reach out and hug him all the times. But love? She had never been in love before, so she had no idea what it felt like. Her books offered some help, but all the girl's in them were smitten with the same enthusiasm as Juvia. She definitely didn't feel like _that._ Her feelings for Natsu was one pieced together with admiration, respect, need, safety...

She shook her head, she was giving herself a headache thinking about this. Even if she did end up falling for the fire dragon slayer, she definitely would never act upon it. Her stupid girly feelings would definitely get in the way of their friendship. She would let nothing come between them, even her own feelings.

NATSU

"Come on little buddy!" Natsu ran towards the town of Magnolia, "We're almost home! We have to go wake up Lucy!"

"AYE SIR!" Happy flew in loops over Natsu's head giggling with excitement.

"She's probably still asleep huh Happy?" Natsu ran down the road, thinking about his best friend and teammate fast asleep under the pink sheets. An evil grin grew across his face, if he hurried he could surprise her by jumping on her bed. The thought of her surprised, angry, blushing face yelling profanities at him made him laugh. He really liked it when Lucy blushed and became flustered. He didn't really care to know why he liked it, all he knew was that he did.

And he really wanted to see that face right now. He picked up his pace, the white scarf wrapped around his neck flapped behind him as he ran down the street to Lucy's apartment.

In his backpack he had a box of takoyaki that he had bought to share with her. He had bought it at the festival up in the cold, snow-covered mountains. Natsu remembered thinking that he wished Lucy was there with him. She would have really liked the festival. But he knew she hated the cold, and had absolutely refused to go with him. It made him feel a little sad, he liked having his teammate around. Everything was better when Lucy was there.

"LUSHY!" Happy yelled down the street as they got closer to her apartment.

"SHH! HAPPY! Let's surprise her." Natsu held a finger against his evil grin, as he looked at the blue cat who was flying next to Natsu's head. The blue cat giggled happily. "Aye sir!" He said in a quiet voice.

He skidded to a stop in front of Lucy's apartment. This was going to be good. He really wanted to yell out in menacing laughter but contained it to sputtering laughs.

"Happy," He whispered, "open Lucy's window and I'll jump in on her bed and scare her." He could almost hear her delightful screams ringing in his ears now.

Happy gleamed at Natsu, and nodded, a small smirk playing evily at the corners of the blue cat's mouth. He flew up and flung open the windows, Natsu leaped in right after landing on the bed growling, reaching to tickle the shit out of the blonde beneath him. But he soon realized that the bed underneath him held no sleeping, or screaming blonde. It was empty.

_Huh?_ Natsu patted the bed with curiosity. It was still really early in the morning, she should still be sleeping. He looked around, on the bed, under the bed, under the sheets. Happy was in the window sill looking at the bed with confusion. "Where's Lucy?" the cat said, worried.

Just then the door to the bathroom flew open. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING BARGING INTO MY PLACE LIKE THAT!?" Lucy was dressed in a blue and white tank top with matching skirt, her flat belly exposed. She looked pissed. Plue waddled out from behind her waving at Natsu and Happy who were just staring at her from atop her bed.

"LUCY!" Natsu and Happy tackled her to the floor in a hard embrace, happy to see their blonde teammate.

"Ugh! Get off me! You're all sweaty! I just took a damn bath! GET OFF!" She struggled against Natsu who held her close to him. Her familiar flesh and body heat pressed up against his, her smell of morning dew, sunshine and honey mixed with her lotion, which today smelled like lemons. Natsu thought it suited her. He rubbed his sweaty face against her's, much to her disgust. Happy walked over to high-five Plue before flying over to her fridge to open it. His expression instantly soured when he saw the empty fridge.

"NATSU!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, "GET OFF ME!" She thrashed against the dragon slayer. Natsu laughed, "It's good to see you too Luce!" He let her go and hoped up offering the frazzled blonde on the floor a hand up. Which she took gingerly, a blush forming on her face, her scowl still angry at him. Natsu could tell that behind that scowl, there was a hint of amusement behind her angry brown eyes. He pulled the blonde up to her feet, her blush grew, as she snatched her hand back from him. _What was that about?_ He wondered but was quickly sidetracked._  
><em>

"Lushyy... Your fridge is empty-y." Happy whined. "Why don't you ever buy food?"

"I do." She crossed her arms over her chest, "But you two always eat it all." She looked grumpy. Natsu felt kind of bad, its just that Lucy always got really tasty stuff for her fridge and him and Happy were always hungry.

"OH! LUCE!" Natsu remembered the food he had brought back for her and pulled it out of the backpack he sat down in front of him. The small white bo, wrapped in a plastic bag was slightly smashed from its adventure in Natsu's backpack. "I got this at the festival in the town, after we finished the job there." He ripped open the bag to fast and the box fell to the floor, popping open and spilling its contents onto the wooden floor. "Awh shit..." Natsu leaned down to pick them up, "Don't worry Lucy! They're still good!"

Happy flew over and started shoving the tasty balls of food into his stuffed mouth. "I'm not eating off the floor Natsu." Said Lucy. He knew she would say that.

He looked at the box on the floor, there was still one ball left tucked in the corner. "Lucy!" He picked it up in between his pointer finger and thumb, "This one's still good! It didn't touch the floor." Before she could refuse, he placed it to her lips gently, the blush on her face returned. She was getting awfully flustered easily this morning. He didn't even do anything to make her mad just them.

Lucy opened her lips and let him push the ball of takoyaki into her mouth, as she closed her lips, Natsu's finger briefly drug against them. _Her lips... are really soft._ For some reason he really enjoyed this small feature on Lucy. He rubbed his finger over her lips as she chewed, mesmerized by his simple new discovery of her. She was always yelling at him from those lips, he didn't think harsh words like that could escape from such soft lips. He let his hand fall to his side and smiled at Lucy, with his signature goofy grin like what he had just done was nothing out of the normal. Though to Natsu, his simple gesture was just that, nothing just a simple gesture. Nothing out of the normal. _  
><em>

He was comfortable with Lucy. Natsu was comfortable with everyone, but it was slightly different with Lucy. He didn't feel the need to prove himself to her like he did with others in the guild. Lucy already knew that Natsu was strong and brave. He could really relax around her.

"It's good right?!" Natsu looked at the red-faced Lucy who swallowed, "I got them just for you. Sorry they dropped on the floor. I'm glad I was able to save one for you though."

She just nodded and looked away from him, her face was still bright red, something was wrong with Lucy. "Lucy! What's wrong? You've been acting super weird this morning."

LUCY

Shit. She had been easily flustered since he tackled her without warning earlier. Thinking about him all morning and writing to her mom about her thoughts, made it all really weird for her. She was happy he was back, but he had caught her at a strange moment. She wasn't able to collect her confusing emotions and push them aside before she saw him.

And then, just now, when his fingers caressed her lips so sweetly for a moment...

Her mind was a jumbled mess of confusing thoughts and emotions. Natsu hadn't helped. But she needed to get herself together. She needed to regain her composure to make sure the dragon slayer didn't push the issue any further. He didn't need to know how she was feeling, that would only add muddy water to their relationship.

She quickly got herself together, she scratched the back of her head and smiled. "Oh I'm fine Natsu. I think must be coming down with a cold. I haven't been feeling that great the past couple days."

"Oh." Natsu looked relieved, "I thought you were really mad at me for something."

"Haha! Even if I was, I couldn't stay mad at you for long Natsu. I'm fine, really." She was glad he bought it. The dragon slayer was dim-witted, she could easily trick him into believing her. She was relieved, if he had noticed she was lying, he would stop at nothing until he found the cause of her weird behavior. If she wasn't careful she would probably end up blabbing everything to him out of pure frustration.

She turned away from him, she needed to busy herself quickly. She walked over and grabbed a teapot from her cupboard. She filled it with water from the sink and placed it on her stove, the little flame under it burst to life as she clicked it on.

"What are we doing today Lucy?" Natsu said sitting down at the table with Happy and Plue.

"I didn't have any plans. Levy is at Gajeel's, and I still don't know where he lives. They were hiding from Droy and Jet." Lucy pulled two colorful mugs down from the shelves. The teapot began to whistle under the pressure of steam building up inside it.

"Let's go fishing!" Natsu suggested enthusiastically. She could feel Happy's excitement bubbling out of him. "YEAH!" Happy agreed instantly. "Lucy come fishing with us!"

"Please Lucy..." Natsu pleaded as Lucy turned around, placing a mug of hot steeping tea in front of him as she sat down at the table. She blew the rising steam away from the top of the cup of tea she held in between her hands.

"Oh I don't know..." She had planned on spending her day with him and the blue cat anyways, but she wanted to hear him beg. She couldn't wait to hear all about the mission up in the snow-covered mountains. T

he cold from up north had finally began creeping over the town. The days were growing shorter and the weather colder. She figured she would grab a chance to sit in the warm sun before it got to cold to to do anything outside.

"PLEASE LUCY!" Natsu and Happy both gleamed at her face, they wanted to spend their day with her. Maybe they really missed her while they were gone for those few days.

"Oh... Ok." Lucy smiled at them setting her mug on the table in front of her.

"YAY!" Natsu reached across the table and grabbed the blonde's hand and pulled her out the door before Lucy could even stop him. Happy flew out the door after them. Plue waved goodbye and disappeared back into the celestial world, his little white body dissipating into little sparks of golden light.

The two steaming mugs of tea sat alone on the table, untouched. The sound of Lucy screaming at Natsu could be heard down the street.

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><p><strong>Lots of ideas flowing through my noggin.<br>**

**If you read my last story "Crazy" about GaLe,  
>you could probably tell it ties into this story.<br>That's the plan. :)**

**GaLe will most likely show up in this story as well.  
>I just love them so much I don't think I'll be able to help it.<strong>

**You are beautiful and glorious and unique and perfect.  
>Thanks for being so awesome.<strong>


	2. 2: Pretty

**Number 2!**

**Please enjoy you amazing and beautiful individual!**

**Hiro Mashima still continues to own Fairy Tail. He is super rad.**  
><strong>I am but a lowly fan-girl who can only fulfill my own ridiculous ships by writingreading fanfic.**

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><p>NATSU<p>

Lucy had finally stopped yelling at him and was the two of them were enjoying the walk to his favorite fishing spot. Happy had flown ahead of them to grab their fishing poles from their house. The breeze was blowing comfortably around them, a few leaves scattered along the ground. The cold wind that was bringing in fall was already causing some trees to shed themselves of their green leaves.

Natsu always like watching the colors of the leaves change, he enjoyed the cold weather. It never really bothered him that much. He couldn't wait for the snowball fights that would break out at the guild. He would definitely destroy Grey this year. The ice-mage was always a bit stronger in his own element.

"So how was the job Natsu?" Lucy finally broke the silence between them. The two of them could comfortably accept the moments of silence between them, sometimes neither of them wanted to say anything and just enjoyed each other's company. Natsu liked these moments best. He knew that he was sort of terrible with words and conversation. He knew enough that he would always manage piss people off when he spoke. But he didn't care, if people didn't like what he had to say then they shouldn't listen.

"It was really awesome Luce!" Natsu looked at the blonde who walked next to him, her blonde hair shined in weird patterns as they sun shone through the tree branches above them. "Some stupid ice monster was moving into a cave next to the town. It was eating and stealing their stuff and causing avalanches so I just kicked it out of its house and sent it flying to another mountain top."

He threw his arms behind his head, looking pleased with himself. "That's good. I'm glad I didn't go," Lucy said. "I'm pretty sure I would've gotten in the way."

"Yeah probably!" Natsu laughed, Lucy would have definitely gotten in the way. She would've probably been swept away in an avalanche and he'd have to rescue her, again. He heard her hmpf next to him. The blonde looked away from him pouting, her arms crossed over her chest irritated. Natsu continued, he knew Lucy didn't like being unhelpful and 'in the way'. Natsu continued, "But it wasn't nearly as fun without you. You make everything better when you're around. I know you hate the cold, but I wish you would've come."

Lucy turned her head to look at him, an eyebrow cocked like she didn't believe him. "You don't mean that."

"Pfft, sure I do! You're my partner! It's no fun when you aren't around." He closed his eyes and stomped down the trail a big smile on his face. She smiled at him. He loved when she smiled. It made him feel happy inside, he didn't have to worry about her when she was smiling. It was moments when she looked upset or nervous, or was crying that pissed him off. He felt a deep anxious need in him when the blonde was not smiling. His chest grew tight and angry when she was upset, he would do everything in his power to return that shining bright smile to her face.

He really loved having Lucy around, she was funny, surprisingly strong, caring, and smart. He never could figure out how she just got things and pieced stuff together in her head. Most of the time stuff went right over Natsu's head.

They walked through the trees to his favorite place to fish; a small cliff overlooked a deep part of the river that ran through the forest. He always caught the biggest fish at this place. Lucy fell backwards into the soft grass next to him as he sat, legs crossed a few feet away from the edge of the drop-off. Happy hadn't shown up yet so the two of them just sat in the grass and waited for him. The breeze blew the green blades, still shining with morning dew, around playfully. It was a perfect, beautiful day.

He looked down at the blonde mage laying comfortably next to him, her eyes were closed and she held her hands behind her to cup the back of her head. His eyes rested on the soft lips he had touched earlier that day. _Hmm..._ His mind went blank as he leaned towards her, his movement absolutely silent.

The dragon slayer was running straight off impulse. As Grey would say he was just doing things without realizing the consequences or severity of his actions. But Natsu didn't even realize what he was doing, he never had taken the time to stop and think about his actions before doing them. He just DID what he wanted to do.

His face hovered close to oblivious spirit mage's face. Natsu's mind blankly wondered what her lips felt like against his, they were really soft. He hovered over her, his lips almost touching Lucy's pink-tinted ones. She exhaled through her mouth, her eyes still closed, thoroughly enjoying her time spent laying in the sun. He had heard people around town and the guild say how pretty she was, but he never looked at her like that before. Was Lucy really, pretty? Her hot breath rushed over his face. Natsu was suddenly really, really fascinated by the blonde mage, he just stared at her face as if some great mystery was trapped in her mind. He sniffed her, his nostrils flared, letting her scent in. Her morning dew and honey scent mixed with the smell of the grass and the clear water of the river next to them. He definitely enjoyed how she smelled. Maybe she tasted just as good?

The sudden noise of Natsu sniffing her caused Lucy's eyes to shoot open, she screamed and scooted back about 20 feet until her back hit the back of a tree behind them. Her face turned bright red and she held an arm out in front of her like she wanted to push him away from her further. "NATSU?! Wh-what the hell where you just doing?!" Her voice broke.

"Eh. I don't know Lucy." Natsu scratched his head and looked up at the clear blue sky, confused. What was he just doing? He knew he wanted to get closer to her, but he didn't understand why exactly. Lucy had just became suddenly fascinating to him. He wanted to look at her closely, he wanted know what her lips felt like. "I was just thinking about your lips and wanted to look at you closely." Natsu was always straight-forward and unbelievably honest.

"My l-l-lips?! What's wrong with them?! Why would you want to do that?!" Lucy was still against the tree, freaking the fuck out. "_What the fuck _was that about Natsu?!"

"I told you I don't know Lucy. I just suddenly wanted to look at your face. I don't know why you're freaking out so much. I didn't do anything. I didn't even kiss you..." Natsu crossed his arms over his chest and looked ahead of him, grumpy. Why was she freaking out so bad? He didn't even touch her. Their faces had been that close before and she never did anything. Hell, they slept together and cuddled all the time. What was so different about it this time?

"Huh? HUH? _HUH?!_" Lucy's voice got gradually louder as she sat frozen against the tree.

LUCY

_He wanted to just look at my face and my lips. He was thinking about my lips. WHAT?!_ Lucy was losing her composure. She had finally gotten her thoughts together and under control when she looked up to find him hovering over her like he was about to kiss her.

The dragon slayer had his back turned away from her, he was obviously grumpy that she had freaked out so much. He sat there sulking, arms crossed over his chest, his back hunched.

"NATSUUUU! LUCYY!" Happy's voice sang through the trees as the blue cat flew over he had a couple of fishing poles in his little paws.

The blue cat looked down at the two mages, noticing the distance between them, "Hey Natsu, why is Lucy all the way over there?" He asked the dragon slayer as he flew down beside him, handing him the poles.

"Oh Lucy is just freaking out again." Natsu said this like the entire world knew it was a normal thing. "Oh..." Happy just nodded understanding, "Hey Natsu, let's catch a big fish ok?" Natsu gave the blue cat a high-five, "You got it little buddy!"

"HEY! I don't freak out all the time!" Lucy was now angry. Maybe, if they didn't do stupid shit all the time she wouldn't have to freak out all the time. She stood up, her fist clenched.

"Yeah you do Luce!" Natsu turned to flash a big smile at her from over his shoulder, "It's just how you are. You're just being Lucy. Are you going to fish with us? You said you would."

"That is if she even knows how to fish..." Happy giggled under his breath. "I fucking heard that cat!" Lucy yelled at him.

Lucy growled, she would show that stupid dragon slayer and dumb blue cat, she would catch the biggest fish yet. She stomped over to Natsu and snatched the pole he held out to her out of his hands.

"Just you wait, I'll catch the biggest fish yet!" Lucy was now fueled by determination, she would make those two eat their words. She sat down next to Natsu and cast her line into the water.

"Yea right Lucy! You'll get pulled into the water before that happens!" Natsu laughed. Lucy punched him in the face, he still laughed even with a swollen cheek. Lucy's hand throbbed, Natsu had a ridiculously hard head.

* * *

><p>Later that day...<p>

NATSU

The sun had reached the middle of the sky and it burned down on them, even the cool breeze that swirled around them wasn't enough to curb the out-of-season heat. A small pile of fish had grown behind them. Lucy looked downcast, she was sweating and was miserable. Natsu was kicking his feet off the edge of the small cliff over the river, Happy was chewing happily on one of the fish they had caught.

"Hey Natsu, I'm going to head back." Lucy reeled in her pole and sat it down next to him.

"LUCY!" He whined, he was enjoying himself. He didn't want Lucy to walk away, she had finally calmed down. He thought she was enjoying herself. He was enjoying her being around him.

"I'm sweating and dirty," Lucy said standing up, brushing the dirt off her curvy ass, causing puffs of dust to fly around her., "I'm going home to shower and change. I'll meet you at the guild later. Ok?" She turned around and walked away. Natsu knew there was no stopping her.

"Yeah ok Luce! We'll see you later." He waved to her as she walked away, she smiled and waved back at him. He watched her as she walked away. She was being weird today, she was making him do weird things. _Weird. _

He had stolen glances at her all morning. _Was Lucy pretty?_ He had determined that he liked the way she smelled for sure, and her hair was shiny, and she looked soft and warm. But pretty? Maybe. He didn't really _get_ the concept of pretty. He liked looking at her, maybe that's what it meant to think someone was pretty. He never looked at Lucy like that. Lucy was just Lucy.

He turned to Happy. "Hey Happy?" The cat chewed on his fish, "Yeah Natsu?"

Natsu stared at the water trying to figure out the answer to this riddle in his mind. "Is Lucy pretty? I can't figure it out." The cat spit bits of chewed fish everywhere. "NO! Lucy doesn't look anything like a cat! She's like an angry naked monkey..." The cat was obviously not the right one to ask about this. "Charle is pretty though."

_An angry naked monkey... _Natsu could understand the angry part but not what Happy meant by "naked monkey". Natsu didn't see the resemblance.

"I meant for a human stupid." Natsu was trying to be serious right now. He needed to figure out if Lucy was pretty or not, it was digging at his brain, really bothering him.

"Well, I'm a cat..." Happy said, "You should ask someone else, they would be able to tell you."

Natsu nodded. He would ask someone tonight at the guild.

* * *

><p>That night he walked into the guild. Happy took off to offer Charle a fish. He looked around Lucy still wasn't there. He was trying to figure out who he should ask. He would've asked Gildharts, but he was out on another long mission. He couldn't wait that long for him to get back. He had thought to ask Grey, but Grey was stupid and didn't know anything. Maybe he would ask Master Makarov, but he was old and he would ask Natsu to many questions. He knew he couldn't ask any of the girl's, they were different from boy's obviously. But then Natsu thought that maybe, dragon slayer's thought people looked different to them.<p>

He looked around the guild hall, his eyes landed on Laxus. He wasn't really close to the lightning dragon slayer, and he was sure the blonde mage would just laugh at him. He kept looking around and in the corner he saw Gajeel chewing on a plate of metal, looking particularly grumpy, Levy nowhere to be seen. He would have to do, he was a lot nicer since him and Levy started dating. Plus, Gajeel was a dragon slayer and since he was dating Levy he would definitely be able to tell Natsu if Lucy was pretty or not. Gajeel must have a good idea about what the mysterious term "pretty" meant.

Gajeel ignored him as the fire dragon slayer sat himself down across the table from him. "Gajeel. I have a serious question to ask you." Natsu's face was determined as he stared at the iron dragon slayer. Gajeel grunted, annoyed, picking up his plate to move himself to another table. Natsu slammed his hand down on the plate, pushing it back onto the table. This caused an angry vein to pop out on the iron dragon's forehead.

"Gajeel please, it's really important." Natsu grabbed the collars of his shirt and pulled him closer to the pink-head's face. Gajeel just stared at him with anger in his red eyes, his nostrils flaring, the vein in his forehead now throbbing. Natsu stared at him hard, his eyes pleading. Gajeel was the only one who could help him with his predicament right now.

"Why do you have to ask me?" the iron dragon slayer slapped Natsu's hands away from his collar, and sat back down, obviously realizing it was futile to try to run away from Natsu's question.

"Because Gildhart's isn't here and you're the only one who can!" Natsu was feeling frantic, if Gajeel didn't answer him he'd have to wait till Gildharts came back or ask Grey. Those two things he knew couldn't happen.

"Wait till he get's back then." Gajeel was annoyed, why did he have to deal with this now, he was already in a bad mood.

"I can't wait that long! I need to know this now!" Natsu hit his head on the table, defeated by the aching question in his mind.

"Ugh..." Gajeel rolled his eyes, this was tiring, he knew he should have just went home. "Alright, what is it?" He immediately regretted his decision.

Natsu shot his head up and peered into Gajeel's red eyes pleading, Gajeel leaned back cocking an eyebrow, taken back by the fire dragon's intense stare. "I need to know..." He paused and looked around the guild, it was something that he didn't want everyone to know he asking this question, "I need to know if Lucy is pretty. Gajeel, is Lucy pretty?"

Gajeel just stared at him with confusion and anger and more confusion, his mouth slightly open in shock. But the iron dragon saw the desperation in Natsu's eyes and sighed. He brought a hand to his head, this was going to be weird, he just knew it.

"Natsu. It's not about if I think Lucy is pretty or not. It's about if _you_ think she is pretty." Gajeel rubbed his temples, it was already weird.

"No. Just.. is Lucy pretty? Just... is she pretty?" Natsu was confused. Did Natsu himself think she was pretty? What did that have to do with if she was pretty or not? If Lucy was pretty, she was pretty. It didn't matter what Natsu thought.

"Natsu... It doesn't matter if anyone else thinks Lucy is pretty or not. What matters is how you look at her." Gajeel was no good at explaining things, he wished Levy was there to sort this mess out.

"What do you mean? I don't understand. Do I think Lucy is pretty? I don't really get what that means. If Lucy is pretty, then she's pretty." Natsu scratched his head, he wasn't getting this.

Gajeel growled, "Listen flame brain. Are you attracted to Lucy? If you are then that means you think she's pretty."

"Attracted to Lucy? Are you attracted to Levy? Is Levy pretty? Does being attracted to someone mean they are pretty?" Natsu was trying to piece this together. Attracted to Lucy? What did that mean? Geez, this was turning into a really complicated question. Gajeel growled threateningly at him.

"Alright Natsu..." Gajeel tried to come up with a simple, dim-witted way that even Natsu could understand. He definitely didn't like him comparing Levy to Lucy. "Do you like to look at Lucy?"

Natsu thought for a second and he guessed he did like looking at Lucy, "Yeah, I guess so."

"Ok. What do you like about Lucy when you look at her?" Gajeel had his eyes closed and was rubbing his eyes. This was embarrassing and stupid. Natsu was a giant idiot. He felt sort of bad for Lucy. She was never going to get a hold of that pink-haired fuck.

"Well... I like how she smells, and I like when she smiles, and her hair is shiny..." Natsu was thinking hard, he squinted up at the ceiling. "and I like that her lips are soft..."

_Her lips are soft?_ What the fuck was going on in this kid's head. Gajeel just looked at him like he was the biggest idiot on the planet. "Ok Natsu. I can't believe I'm talking to you about this. But did Igneel ever talk to you about what would happen when you found your mate?"

Natsu blinked at him, he vaguely remembered something about it, but he was to bored by it at the time to retain any of it. What did this have to do with if Lucy was pretty or not? "Yeah, probably but I don't remember it. It was probably something boring."

Gajeel took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He wasn't going to have this conversation with Natsu. The pink-haired child sat across from him opened his mouth again, "But I don't understand what that has to do if Lucy is pretty or not. I just want to know if she's pretty." Natsu was getting frustrated, he was going to walk away from this conversation with more questions than answers. He should have just asked Grey.

"Natsu, if there are things that you like about how a person looks or acts then you probably think they are pretty. So it sounds like _you_ think Lucy is pretty. You are attracted to her." Gajeel was bored of this conversation. He tried to just spell it out for him. "For example..." He hated bringing Levy into this conversation, but if it made Natsu understand things better so he would leave Gajeel alone, then fine. He felt bad for Lucy, and since she was Levy's best friend he felt kind of obligated to help her out.

"For example,_ I_ find Levy attractive. _I_ think Levy is pretty. I like looking at her. She smells good to me, she's cute, I like how soft her hair is and her facial expressions. I also think she's smart, strong, kind... I enjoy being around her. I'm not happy when I'm not around her." He felt like a fucking sap saying it all out-loud, "It's because of all those reasons and more that I think Levy is pretty. Those are some reasons why I'm attracted to her." He was met with Natsu's face thinking hard, "Does that make any sense?" He really, really hoped that it did.

"Yea, I think so. So that means I'm attracted to Lucy, that I think she's pretty. Because I think all those things about Lucy." He was quiet, understanding it a little better.

Levy suddenly appeared, reaching up to wrap her hands around Gajeel's eyes. She whispered in Gajeel's ear, "Awh, you think I'm pretty?" Gajeel's shoulders sank and the color drained from him face. This was definitely embarrassing. How did she manage to sneak up on him? He grunted. "Haha, awh Gajeel! You're pretty handsome yourself." She kissed her iron dragon slayer on the cheek as she sat down next to him.

"What's going on? You think Lucy is pretty, Natsu?" She placed her head in the palms of her hands and looked at the fire dragon slayer.

"Yeah. I think so." Natsu was still thinking very hard about it. "Gajeel was helping me figure it out. Apparently, it's more complicated than I thought."

"Oh he was?" Levy smiled at her dragon slayer and bumped her shoulder into him. Gajeel looked tired. "Well Lucy_ is_ pretty, no wonder you find her attractive."

"So she is pretty?!" Natsu was glad that Levy cleared that up for him. Levy nodded at Natsu with a big smile on her face. About time the fire dragon slayer figured that out.

Gajeel stopped her, "Levy, I was trying to explain the difference between other people thinking someone is pretty and you yourself thinking someone is pretty."

"Ohh!" Levy's eyes lit up, she knew that Natsu just wanted someone to tell him that Lucy was pretty. Gajeel wanted Natsu to come to the conclusion that he thought Lucy was pretty. "Did Gajeel explain that to you alright?"

"Yea, I guess it means I like looking at her, and like things about her, and being around her because she makes me happy." Natsu felt like he got it now. He felt much better. But he still didn't have any idea what that had to do with the "mate" thing. "But what does Lucy being pretty have to do about the 'mate' thing Gajeel was talking about."

"Hmm..." Levy thought about this for a moment. This conversation would be a little tricky, and it was probably to early for Natsu to have that information thrown at him tonight. "Natsu do you know how to read?"

"YES I DO! BUT WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO..." Natsu was getting frustrated again, why couldn't they just give him straight forward answers like he wanted.

Levy cut him off by raising a finger in the air at him, "I think I might have a book that will clear that up for you. I can't really explain it all that well because I'm not a dragon slayer, and Gajeel is just bad at explaining things." Gajeel growled at this, "Would you like to read it? It's about dragons and there are pictures." She did have a book. If he took the bait she could hopefully put a plan into place to bring him and Lucy closer together.

"Yea sure!" Natsu was all about dragons. Maybe, he could get some information on where Igneel went.

"Alright! I'll bring it into the guild for you tomorrow. If you have any questions while you're reading it I'm sure pretty Lucy will help you out." Levy smiled big at Natsu. This was great. Gajeel looked down at the bluenette, he could kind of see where she was going with this. She was really clever.

"Thanks Levy!" Natsu got up. He would get to the bottom of this riddle. He had already determined that he thought Lucy was pretty and what finally knew what it meant to think someone was pretty. That made him happy. He lifted his head, he smelt Lucy come into the guild. His head shot around behind him to see her walking in, clean. She noticed him and waved at him. He got up from the table and ran over to her. The conversation he had just had slipping to the back of him mind.

Gajeel continued eating his meal of metal, his eyes followed the stupid pink-haired fuck. "He's so dense."

"Poor Lucy." Levy agreed with him and she shook her head. "It seems like he's starting to look at her more that way now though."

Gajeel snorted, "She has no idea what she has in store for her. That stupid idiots got it bad for her."

"Really?" Levy asked watching her blonde friend push the fire dragon slayer off her as she walked up to the guild mission board. She could see it.

"Clever, by the way." Gajeel turned a red eye to look at Levy from the corner of his eye.

"I don't know what you're talking about..." She giggled at him, "I heard everything you said by the way."

He blew the air out his lungs, returning his gaze to the table in front of him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh really?" Levy winked at Gajeel as she wrapped her tiny arms around his large one, "Why don't we go home and find that book for Natsu?" Her voice implying that they were doing more than looking for a book for Natsu.

"Gihehe..." Gajeel liked where this was going. Maybe Levy hearing into his conversation with Natsu wasn't so embarrassing anymore. "Sounds good to me shrimp." He smirked at her, pushing back from the table grabbing his script mage's tiny hand. "Guess that means you aren't mad at me anymore."

"Nah... I couldn't be mad at you for long. Not even if I tired." Levy squeezed his hand.

She took a look back at Natsu and Lucy as she walked out the guild's front door. Lucy was bent over slightly pointing at the job board and the papers stuck to it. Natsu stood next to her, his arms crossed over his chest, his stance wide. He stared down at the blonde, really looking at her; as if it was the first time he had ever laid his eyes on her.

* * *

><p><strong>Alrighty. Let me know what you think.<strong>  
><strong>I tried hard to keep Natsu's innocent boyish charm.<strong>  
><strong>I hope that I succeeded. Please let me know what you think! <strong>

**And I had to put GaLe in their. Because they're my favorite :)**

**I hope you liked it. Maybe, just maybe I'll add a tiny bit of smut into the next chapter.  
>I'll see if I can fit it in.<br>****IF THERE IS A WILL THERE IS A WAY!**

**You rock. Just thought I'd let ya know! ;)**


	3. 3: Heat

**Alright. So after much deliberation in my mind I have finally decided out how I will tackle the rest of this story.  
>I figured I would mix it up a bit.<strong>  
><strong>I hope that you will all enjoy it. Let me know what you think! :)<strong>

**I will be on vacation during the month of October.**  
><strong>So it may take a while to put out more chapters.<strong>  
><strong>PLEASE FORGIVE ME! I promise I will be back!<strong>

**But I'm leaving you all with a wonderful treat in the meantime.  
><strong>**There is smut in the second section.  
><strong>**This is your warning.**

**Hiro Mashima owns all of Fairy Tail.**  
><strong>I own nothing. I am unworthy! :)<strong>

* * *

><p>NATSU<p>

Natsu looked down at the book that Levy had given him. It was bound in old brown leather, some of the yellow pages laid mismatched against one another. He could tell that at one point there had been etchings on the cover that looked like words had been stamped into it long ago, but now the front of the book looked like a beat up mess, there were black ink stains all over it and the spine of the book was coming apart at the corners. The overwhelming thick book was held together with a worn out leather strap. Natsu played with the many long pieces of strings that were used as bookmarks, marking the specific pages Levy had told him to read.

It was actually pretty heavy and dense despite its fragile appearance. Levy had warned him threateningly to take care of the old book. The bluenette said it was one of her favorites and if he damaged it in anyway, she would never forgive him.

_"If you hurt this book I won't forgive you… and as retribution, I'll be sure to keep Lucy away from you forever."_ The strange words Levy had left him with, confused him, and really pissed him off. Surely, Levy meant she would take Lucy from him as his partner, but the dragon slayer found himself really angered by the statement. He felt an overwhelming animalistic drive to protect the blonde dig a deep pit in his stomach. He would never let anyone keep Lucy from him.

The dragon slayer was, for the first time in his life, really struggling with this feeling of "mine". Lucy was _his_ teammate, _his_ partner, _his_ best friend. He had urges to run to her apartment, lock them both in there and keep everyone else from her. It was like there was an elastic band connecting them together, pulling Natsu back to her.

He had always felt a strong sense of companionship and admiration for his female partner, but lately his need to be around the blonde had grown. He found himself getting angry when she talked to other males in the guild. Males whom he had grown up with and cared for deeply. He had even smacked Grey's hand off her shoulder the other day, growling at the shirtless black haired mage. Natsu threatened Grey viciously, throwing him backwards away from the blonde, demanding the ice mage never touch her again. If he did Natsu'd beat him into a puddle on the ground. Lucy had yelled at him for that, asking him what his problem was. He was becoming really stupidly, over-protective about her lately.

But the young dragon slayer had felt this growing insistent need tugging inside his body to keep her all to himself. But as always he was just acting off impulse and hadn't noticed the change consciously himself. To the pink-haired dragon slayer, he was being his normal self. This was nothing new.

He walked back to his house, the book tucked away under his shoulder. He couldn't get any reading done in the guild, and Lucy had (much to his displeasure) kicked him out of her place, Levy was over. Everyone was bothering him about his sudden desire to read, and were picking on him. He could read if he wanted to. He just never had the desire to before.

He walked up to his and Happy's stone house and opened the flimsy wood door. It was messy, as usual. He plopped himself down on the cot in the corner of the room, pushing the mountain of clothes onto the floor before he laid out on his stomach, setting the book in front of him, under his face.

* * *

><p><strong>Time Lapse- 5 years into the future<strong>

Natsu and Lucy stood in their front door of their quaint 2 story house, waving goodbye smiling. The older Natsu stood tall, his pink hair still wild, the boyish expression still lingered on his older matured face, Igneel's scarf was still wrapped around his neck. He held Lucy close to him with one arm wrapped comfortably around her waist. The blonde's normally long hair was cut in a short bob that hugged her smiling face cutely, she was dressed a bit more conservatively than she had in her younger days, but only slightly so.

The couple who walked away carried two screaming children in each of their arms. Gajeel, his once long black hair was cut just above his shoulder's, a burnt orange head band held locks of hair away from his face. He held a red diaper bag over his shoulder and a screaming and kicking pink-haired three year old in the other arm. The small boy was reaching toward the wild black-haired girl in her mother's arms who was glaring with angry hazel eyes at the boy in her father's arms. This was not something she was pleased with. She did not like sharing her precious father with anyone. Levy patted the two year old girl's back as she sat in her arms, talking quietly in her ear, trying to reason with the girl to make peace with the three year old. The script mage's short blue hair had grown out and stopped about half-way down her back. Happy flew over their heads holding onto a small green backpack, he waved back at his comrades who still stood in the doorway.

Gajeel's husky laugh filled the air as the boy had managed to climb his way over far enough to grab his daughter into a hug, the small girl returning the gesture with a large bite to the other toddler's forearm. He wrestled the crying boy into his other arm away from his pouting daughter carried in his wife's arms, who was shaking her head. Gajeel used his free hand to pat the black-haired girl's head, scolding her halfheartedly. Levy looked back at Natsu and Lucy and smiled apologetically at them as they walked down the street away from the Dragneel residence.

"Do you think they're going to be ok?" Lucy looked up at her husband who had a huge smile on his face. It was the same goofy one he always had, his face filled with love and happiness.

"Oh yea Luce, they will definitely be ok." He turned his gaze down to meet hers, "I'm sure Gajeel and Levy can handle two second generation dragon slayer babies for single night."

When he put it like that, Lucy was really beginning to have doubts. Levy had offered to take Atlas, her three year old son, off their hands for the night. They hadn't had any peace and quiet since the child was born. Atlas was just like his father; rowdy, loud, and obnoxious. The young boy was already filled with strong determination and confidence. There wasn't a single thing in their house that wasn't broken or covered in tiny scorch marks. But she loved the small spitting image of her husband unlike anything in the whole world. He was their beautiful miracle child, and Lucy showered him in affection.

"Ugh... Yeah you're probably right. I'm just worried because it's his first night away from us." She rubbed her forehead with the palm of her hand, and leaned her body into Natsu's warm side. The usual loud house was now eerily quiet, making her kind of uncomfortable.

Natsu positioned himself behind her, wrapping both arms to sit around her waist, he placed his chin on her shoulder, and they watched the three Redfoxes, flying blue cat, and crying pink-haired boy disappear around the corner, out of view.

They both stood there for a second leaning against each-other, eyes closed, listening to the sudden stillness of the normal lively house.

The fire dragon slayer turned his head into Lucy's bare neck, inhaling her scent. Even after all this time he still couldn't get enough of her morning dew and honey smell. It's now far familiar scent filled him with comfort and love. "Luce... How long has it been?" He whispered into her ear as he pulled her back closer against him, dragging his hot lips across her cool smooth pale skin.

"Ahhh..." Lucy sighed, defeated by the thought. Far too long. They rarely had a moment to themselves, every time they found a moment of brief quietness, the fiery toddler would awaken shaking the house with his loud powerful screams. It was as if he wanted to interrupt them. "I can't even remember..."

"That's a problem." Natsu pulled her inside, kicked the door closed behind him a little too hard, causing a picture frame to fall to the ground shattering.

Lucy instantly went into mom-mode, "Oh Natsu be careful! Let me go grab a broom!" She tried to shimmy herself out of his embrace, but he growled into her ear and held onto her tighter. "I'll get it later." He guided her to the stair case to the side of the door entry way, pushing the frantic blonde up the stairs. His hands growing hotter as he felt her hipbones from under her shirt. "We aren't leaving our room till tomorrow morning."

"But Natsu! We need to..." Lucy was being persistent, the worry in her mind flashing horrific images of her Atlas gripping onto a shard of glass, his tiny hand bleeding, the tears welling in his little eyes. But Natsu stopped her as he slipped a hand up under her skirt cupping an ass cheek in his hand, as he guided her up the stairs. "I said, I would get it tomorrow, I'll clean it up before we go pick him up. Stop worrying so much." They had reached the top of the stairs and Natsu flipped her around to face him, pulling her close, one hand still gripping hungerly at her still tight ass. He pushed her into the wall with his hips as he reached to caress her face pulling her lips to meet him in a passionate kiss.

The blonde squeaked at the aggressive move. It had been awhile since he had touched her like that, and the familiar but distant heat began to grow in her gut, radiating throughout her body, wrapping her up in a blanket of warmth and electricity.

Natsu moved his lips against her's he licked her teeth through her lips wanting her to open her mouth, which she finally did as her mind abandoned the shattered picture frame on the floor downstairs. He shot his tongue into her mouth, his heat growing around them. Lucy wrestled her tongue against his to try and grab some dominance from the dragon who had her roughly pinned against the wall. This only made the fiery man explode with passion, he bent down slightly to lift the blonde legs up to wrap around his waist. He snuck an arm under her ass to hold her up, her face slightly higher than his as he broke away from their kiss. His free hand reached up to rip her buttoned up shirt open, snapping the bottoms off, sending them clinking onto the floor.

He buried his face in her supple bosum, biting and sucking and nipping at her through her thin black bra. His hot lips leaving hot red marks on her white skin. Lucy mewled and wrapped her legs around him tighter, throwing her head back, wrapping her strong but slender fingers in the mess of his pink hair.

Nastu pulled her away from the wall, letting his lips swallow her groans and sighs. He could feel her becoming hotter as her clothed womanhood pressed up against lower abdomen. He bit into her shoulder and sucked and he watched where he was walking over her shoulder, as he carried her into their room.

Lucy unwrapped the scarf from around his neck as she sat it down on the dresser to the right of them as Natsu carried her into the room. She tugged at the shirt on his back, lifting it up exposing his back and stomach. He released her down to the ground one leg at a time, and reached up to finish pulling off his shirt as Lucy let her now buttonless shirt fall off her shoulders and arms. Natsu growled at the sight of Lucy in a bra and skirt standing before him. He wanted her clothes off. Now.

He picked her up and tossed her onto the bed watching her bounce from where he stood at the edge of the bed, she looked at him with passion in her eyes. He grabbed onto one of her ankles and pulled her closer to him to sit at the at the edge of the bed. He yanked off the black skirt she wore, and leaned over her to kiss her, pressing his stomach into her between her thighs, her dampening hot wet panties dragging across his cut abs, filling him with want. He reached in between them, not breaking their kiss to remove his pants and boxers, his throbbing member becoming suddenly painfully trapped in the harsh fabric. The clothes fell to his ankles and he kicked them off to the side. He brought a hand up to unclasp the bra from behind Lucy's back, pulling the delicate looking article of clothing off her letting her large soft mounds of flesh fall freely.

God it had been so fucking long since they had done this.

Natsu grabbed a large breast in one hand, rolling the hardened nipple in 360 degree motions under his thumb. Lucy moaned loudly and wrapped her hands in his hair as he kissed his way down to clasp the other nipple in between in teeth, licking the tip of it with his tongue, sending Lucy into a passionate fit. Waves of hot electricity rolled over her body, she ground her hips up into his stomach, making Natsu growl.

He reached the hand that wasn't massaging her soft chest down her stomach to slightly brush over her clothed womanhood with the tips of his hot fingers. Heat radiated off his hands like a mirage on a scorching hot pavement in summer.

"Nat-suu..." Lucy gasped out at his touch, wanting more. He would make this last. It wasn't every day they had the house to themselves all night. He would milk this moment for everything it was worth.

He brushed over her thighs, daring to get close, but diverting his hot hand as soon as he was about to touch her center. He could feel Lucy growing desperate with want. Her soft groans of frustration grew louder. He wanted to her to beg him. He sucked hard on her nipple and twisted the other between his fingers just enough to make her yell out in a pleasurable pain.

He continued to tease her, taking the tip of one finger to brush over the middle of her soaked panties, sending shivers throughout her body. She slapped the back of his head.

He chuckled into her soft breast, running his tongue over and over the sensitive nub. "You ass... Stop teasing me!" This only made him want to tease her more, as he slipped his finger under elastic band of the fabric that stretched over her the crook of her thigh. He hooked it, lifting his finger and the fabric of her underwear away from her, he drug that finger along the seam to hold the moist fabric away from her quivering center. He released it and let it slap back against her skin. Throwing Lucy into a frustrated fit.

"Fuck... Natsu! Quit it..." her voice was beginning to sound desperate, she grabbed at his hair and pushed her hips towards his hand who kept it just out of stroking distance. He smiled into her soft skin, as he released her nipple from his lips with a soft pop. He brought his lips in line with her ear. Her face scrunched up like it was almost in pain from the want.

"Lucy... Beg for me..." He took the soft part of her ear in his mouth and suckled on it knowing this was a weak spot on her.

Lucy knew he was playing with her. She wasn't going to play this game tonight, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of begging him for it.

"Never." Her voice was cold and icy against his ears. It was a challenge. Natsu loved a challenge. He would turn her into a quivering, mewling wet mess begging with want beneath him.

"Come on Luce..." His voice was pleading but also teasing her. "Just beg and I'll give you want you want." He started removing her panties and she shuddered under him.

"Fuck you." Lucy cursed back in his ear quietly. She was not giving up that easy.

"Have it your way." He released his hand from around her chest and pulled her panties all the way off. He placed his hands on either side of her waist, not touching her. A small flame grew in his mouth making his breath hot. He leaned in like he was going to kiss Lucy, she reached forward to pull him into a kiss but he averted his lips away from her embrace, breathing almost uncomfortably hot air on her neck, his lips just hovering over her skin. He hovered over her with his lips, breathing on her, making her flesh melt and shiver as he moved his way down her collarbone biting at her skin, his teeth clicking together. Lucy let out a suppressed moan. She wanted him so badly, but she wouldn't beg for it. Not tonight.

He worked his way down in between her chest stopping like he was going to wrap his lips around the nipple he hadn't sucked on yet, but changed his mind at the last second, pulling his face away as Lucy pushed up towards him. She growled. This was so frustrating. She just wanted him to fuck her hard, but he was having far to much fun dragging it out making her suffer.

"All you have to you is beg me Luce." He continued breathing just over her skin down her stomach. Her legs were dangling off the edge of the bed as he was standing over her. The closer he got to her, bringing his hot mouth towards her center, the more she fought against the desire to open up her legs to him. He hovered right over her pelvis, breathing heat on her freshly shaved womanhood. She looked at him and found him smiling up at her licking his lips dangerously close to her skin. His eyes just waiting for her to say what he wanted her too.

"Mmm..." She couldn't give in and beg but she opened her thighs to him in want, the heels of her feet resting on the metal frame the bed sat on. Asking him with her body language to just please do it already. He kneeled before her, bringing his face so close to her silky, wet self. She smelt fucking delicious. Her glistening labia laid out before him for his taking, but he could wait.

"That's not begging Luce..." He looked at her smirking, a glint of humor in his eyes. He let a long hot stream of air hit her delicate lower lips and he moved his hands to trace the lines of her body softly, running up and down her thighs. He figured he'd drive her even more crazy. He let his snake like tongue very, very gently brush her silk folds making her cry out unintentionally. Her sweet taste flooded over his tongue. He wanted her so bad, but he would win. No matter what. Even if it took all night.

"Natsu..." She said his voice pleading quietly, desperate. "Please..." She was breaking down, she gripped at the sheets and shook her head back and forth fighting off her urges. He was amazed by her will power right now, so he rewarded her for the desperate please that left her lips. He took an index finger and drug the tip in between her silky folds down and back up slowly but only once.

"Beg Lucy." His voice was a little sterner. He looked at her. Her eyebrows were moving around giving away the struggle in her mind, she bit her lower lip hard, even managing to draw a little blood. She was so fucking sexy.

"Natsu..." She was caving, he started to run the tip of his finger down her again, "Please... Please..." Her voice was so pleading it almost sounded like she might cry.

"Not begging yet." He scolded her, his voice even sterner. Though he was really enjoying watching her squirm around with want and need.

"Natsu please... I beg you." She broke, but she only whispered it.

"Huh? Didn't hear you..." He slipped two fingers into her folds, running them back and forth over her clit and the warm opening of her shaft, stopping just before he threatened to slip the digits inside her. Lucy knew he was a fucking liar, the dragon heard everything. He was playing with her. But her want for him over powered her want to fight him.

"NATSU! PLEASE!" Lucy yelled out in desperation, "I BEG YOU! NATSU PLEASE! PLEASE!"

That was much better. He slipped his middle finger up into her wet goodness, taking her swollen nub in his mouth, sucking on her clit, swirling his tongue around to match the rhythm of his finger inside her. Their lack of intimacy had made Lucy tighten up. God he wanted her so badly.

She panted, hard and heavy. Her large chest heaving as she climbed higher and higher. Her moans and gasps getting more and more high-pitched as Natsu quickened his pace. He slipped another finger insider her and rubbed her most favorite spot without mercy. Spots danced in front of her eyes. Natsu's heat from his mouth broadened over her body, creeping into every crevice of her being, filling her with an calming ocean of sparkling electricity and fire.

The gasps coming from Lucy had stopped, she was rocking her hips into his face, he looked up at her. Lucy's face was twisted with pleasure, she had her lower lip between her teeth and her eyes were closed, she was taking small sharp inhales through her nose. Natsu knew she was close, just a little bit more, he reached his fingers a little deeper into her stroking her just a tad harder, his nipped at her nub with his teeth and sucked hard.

Lucy was thrown into ecstasy, the calm ocean of heat and lightning building inside her exploded over her senses, crashing over and over her, pulsating through her entire body. She curled her toes, tore at the sheets, her whole body twitched, she arched her back against the bed and cried out in the large release of her orgasm. It had been far too long since she last felt like this.

Natsu felt her tighten around him, but didn't stop his ministrations, prolonging her waves of pleasure.

She settled into the sheets breathing heavy. Natsu removed his fingers and made her shutter, he licked his lips clean as he crawled up onto the bed to lay beside her with his head at the head of bed. Lucy's legs had collapsed off the side of edge of the bed as she attempted to recollect her senses that had slipped away from her during her trip into oblivion. She opened her eyes and looked up behind her at the grinning dragon slayer, who had laid himself beside her, only farther up the bed. He grinned at her with toying victory in his eyes, pleased he had won their small contest. She rolled over and crawled over his legs on her hands and knees to bring her lips to kiss the tip of the large throbbing member in his lap.

Lucy brushed her hair behind her ears, and licked him from base to tip, nice and slow. Natsu sucked in through clenched teeth. It was her time to return the favor.

"Thank you for that." She smiled against his throbbing stick, running her lips up and down his shaft making his twitch around.

"Mmm..." Natsu hmmed his your welcome as she took the tip in between her lips, and grabbed the base of him in a soft but wanting way. She smacked her lips and tongue against his skin letting her saliva dribble down the shaft. She rubbed the sticky liquid around with her hand coating him in her warm wetness.

He reached up to wrap his hands in her hair, which she slapped away, and shook her head as she took more of him into her mouth. She ran her tongue back and forth as she inched him slowly towards the back of her throat. He grumbled in pleasure above her as she backed him back out of her warm oral cavity, her hand fallowing her lips continuing to rub in her saliva until her palm ran smoothly over him.

He hissed and she took him deeper. Picking up the pace. He reached back up to wrap his hands in her hair. She allowed him to help coax her around his achy cock. He bucked his hips up into her, pushing as much as he could into her throat. It had been awhile since she had done this, so she had to suppress back a gag.

"Fuckk... Lucyy.." He drew the words out long, letting them slip off his tongue in pleasurable moans. She cupped his balls in her hand, causing him to tense up as she worked him faster.

"Ugh.. Lu-Lucy..." With one final buck up he came into her mouth. Lucy had grown accustomed to the taste over the years and swallowed down the hot salty sticky liquid. He sighed and let his hands fall to his sides. Lucy released him from her mouth sucking her way to the end before letting him go with a pop of her lips. She looked at him, his body and expression riddled with relaxation and pleasure.

"You done already?" She rested her tired jaw on his thigh and looked at him smirking. His eyes shot open.

"No way you're getting off that easy." He reached forward to grab the blonde mage up into a passionate kiss, flipping her over onto her back. He winked at her, "I'm all fired up now." She giggled as he placed little kisses all over her sexy face.

Their passionate love-making lasted long into the night.

* * *

><p><strong>:) Stayed up all night writing this. <strong>  
><strong>If there is a will there is a way.<strong>

**Hope you enjoyed it.  
>I decided that I will be jumping back and forth between "present NaLu" and "future Nalu"<br>It's slightly different than my normal style of writing, but I thought long and hard about it  
>and decided, what the heck! Hope you don't mind.<strong>

**You are awesome! Thank you for reading and being a super amazing person! **


	4. 4: Clean

**HELLO LOVELIES! I apologize for the long wait. **  
><strong>The hubs returned from his work trip and we spent the weekend...<strong>  
><strong>TOGETHER! YAY!<strong>

**October is only a couple days away. The leaves have started changing colors and **  
><strong>I've been obsessing over PSLs from Sbucks. I'm addicted. I need help!<strong>  
><strong>I will be typing away in the meantime before I leave and during my obnoxiously long flight.<strong>  
><strong>Yuck. Hopefully I will be able to give you all a few more chapters in the mean time.<strong>  
><strong>Please be patient with me!<strong>  
><strong>I haven't been back home in years and I'm very excited to see everyone.<strong>

**Thank you to everyone who has favorited, reviewed, followed or just plain read my story.**  
><strong>You TOTALLY rock! :)<strong>

**Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail and all it's characters.**

* * *

><p>LUCY<p>

She walked down the path at the edge of Magnolia to Natsu and Happy's place. She had always avoided coming out there, just because the state of the small place made her cringe slightly. Natsu and Happy rarely cleaned their house and it showed. The blonde mage spotted the odd house at the end of the path. The cat shaped sign was covered in moss and a vine. The painted red names, "NATSU & HAPPY", were chipping and peeling away from the wood loosing the battled against the elements. Lucy drug her fingers over Natsu's faded name as she walked by. Maybe she would have a new sign made for them for Christmas.

She looked up at the house, the stone chimney was almost completely covered in green vines that climbed up the side. The tree that was sticking out of the walls had grown over the years causing the bricks around it to shift slightly, groaning under the new pressure. Happy and Natsu hadn't cleaned up since they returned from their 7 years trapped on Tenrou Island. Lucy looked at the place and determined it was probably more work than the two wanted to tackle. The overgrown vines, moss and landscape around the place seemed to hold the old beat up house together.

Lucy stepped through the over grown grass in the yard, up to the door. She would have waited for Natsu to just show up at her apartment later but she was worried about him. He was acting really strange the past few days and she thought maybe she had done something to make him upset with her. The fire dragon slayer just seemed really on edge lately. One second he would be all over her and act super protective and possessive, then the next he would ignore her, as if she didn't even exist. It bothered the blonde a lot.

She had talked to her bluenette friend, Levy, about it. The script mage suggested they take an easy mission together and that Lucy talk to the dragon about what was going on. Besides Happy, Lucy was the closest one to the pink-haired fire mage than anyone else in the guild, surely he could talk to her about what was going on.

Lucy figured it had something to do with Igneel. The anniversary of the dragons disappearance was coming up, which always ended up being a weird time for Natsu. Levy had even lent him a book about dragons and dragon slayers. She had mentioned to Lucy that Natsu had been asking Gajeel about certain things dragon slayer related. Gajeel was not really having the sudden question sessions with Natsu and Levy had felt like if she didn't intervene, the iron and fire dragon slayers would end up frustrated with each other and the guild hall would end up destroyed.

She walked up to the flimsy wooden door and knocked. "Natsu?" Lucy called into the house and pressed her ear to the door listening inside, "Natsu, are you in here?" She waited for a response and heard muffled snoring coming from behind the door.

_He must be sleeping._ The sun was barely beginning its decent towards the horizon. It was strange for the fire dragon to fall asleep so early in the afternoon. There was something definitely wrong with Natsu.

Lucy felt the worry in her gut grow. Maybe she should have just spent the day with him instead of Levy. She felt bad for kicking him out of her place earlier. He had walked away from her apartment like a sad puppy. The blonde carefully opened the door. She got it about 5 inches open before she met resistance. _"Huh?" _She pushed against it with her shoulder. Something was blocking the door. _"Dammit Natsu! Why don't you clean your place? This is ridiculous."_

She pushed harder trying to open the door enough to squeeze her body through the crack in the door. She shimmied sideways and was able to get half her body inside. She looked on the other side of the door where a very large pile of clothes sat. _"Ugh! Gross Natsu!"_ She kicked away some of the articles of cloth away from the door, allowing the flimsy wooden door to finally give enough for her to slip her body through.

She almost fell over as she stumbled into the house as she slipped the rest of the way out of the doorway. She ended up kicking empty cans and pots that laid scattered on the floor. _"Shit! Shit!"_ She paused waiting for the sound of snoring to resume, which it did. She didn't wake him up. Thank goodness.

The blonde sorted herself out, straightening her clothes and brushing a strand of hair away from her face as she looked around. The house was disgusting; piles of bare fish bones scattered over the counters in the kitchen and table, piles of dirty dishes were stacked precariously in the sink, there were old mission papers, old newspapers, trash and stuff from past missions strewn evenly all over the house. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust.

_UGH! NATSU?! HAPPY?! _Lucy was scared to even walk around the place, nervous of what was hiding in the filth. She scratched her head. Maybe she would help her partner out. He was always running around on missions or hanging out with her that he probably never had the time to properly clean up. She looked into the corner of the room to find a sleeping Natsu alone on a cot. He was laying on his stomach, sprawled out, mumbling in his sleep. Under his drooling face was an open book.

_I wonder what he was reading?_ The only thing Lucy ever saw him read was a menu or the guild mission board. Occasionally he would raid her desk drawer and read the novel she was working on, much to her dissatisfaction. But this was the first time she saw him read a book for leisure, out of his own personal desire. She chuckled as a pool of drool collected on the yellow pages. She walked over to him carefully and tried to tug the large book out from under his cheek.

He grumbled but stayed asleep as she managed to wrestle the thick, heavy book away from him. She looked down, it was the book that Levy had let him borrow about dragons and dragon slayers.

She ran her fingers over the old yellow pages. There were beautiful drawings of dragons in surprising detail scattered upon the pages, each one with it's own synopsis and information. Bits of long string marked certain pages that Levy had found for Natsu that she figured would be useful to him. She read the page he had open. The author had wrote the informative book in first person, it was his personal log on information he had gathered about the mythical creatures he had devoted his life to studying.

_Mates are chosen by male dragons, who attempt to win over the attention of their chosen female counterpart. This usually resulted in grand displays of their power. Females only choose strong, passionate males, whom they deemed worthy. Powerful females were usually highly sought after. Males would fight one another to the death, the victor rewarded with his chosen female to become his mate for life. The two would mate and forge a lifelong bond, by blood. All dragons mated with their chosen individual the entire length of their life; even if one mate had died, the other mate would never seek out another._

Well that was new. Levy had mentioned briefly that Gajeel and her were 'mates' bound together by blood but she never thought it was that literal. She read on.

_The same would hold true for the Dragon Slayer counterparts. The essential "half-dragon, half-humans" would choose humans who were most compatible with them. I had the opportunity to meet with a paired dragon-slayer and her mate/husband. She had told me that she found her mate/husband irresistible, his smell captivated her, she ached to be at his side and protect him at all times; he was her world. She went onto explain that they too formed an unbreakable bond with their blood the first time they shared intercourse. The same would hold true for all dragon slayer's once finding their chosen mate._

Lucy felt a blush grow over her cheeks, and closed the book quickly. Why was Natsu reading about that? She never figured he would be interested in something like this. But then again maybe he wasn't that interested as she looked down at the sleeping fire dragon slayer next to her. Obviously, he had passed out while reading. She chuckled at him as she set the book down on the only clear spot on the counter. The blonde wondered if Natsu would ever feel that way about anyone.

She looked around at the messy room, her hands on her hips. _Alright, I guess let's just get this over with._ She rolled up her sleeves and tried to decide the best way to begin to tackle the mess around her.

NATSU

He was running through a field of tall yellow grass that stood up to his belly. A feeling of fear and anxiety bubbled up in his stomach, making him cold all over. He turned around fast to look all around him, the field went on forever. He was looking for something, he just couldn't remember what exactly. The anxiety gripped him, and held onto the heart beating in his chest, making him feel suffocated and trapped. What was he looking for? It was important. No doubt about that. Probably the most important thing in his life.

He looked up into the sky, which was covered in overcast, the sun shown behind the clouds making them glow red filling the atmosphere in a ominous glow. It looked like the sky was engulfed in livid flames. He panted feeling his composure slip from him as he frantically looked around him. At the top of a rolling hill he spotted the head of a dark figure, like it was slumped over in the tall grass. It didn't move. He ran towards it. Once he got closer he noticed a flash of golden blonde, streaked with a sticky red. Lucy was on her knees, the torn clothes on her chest were gradually growing darker as it soaked up blood that oozed from a spot on her chest. Her shoulder was busted open, the arm it was connected too hung limply at her side, unable to move. She held her other hand, covered in her own blood, out in front of her face staring at it. The red hand was shaking.

_Lucy? _He wanted to call out to her, but the words were stuck in his throat. He stumbled towards her, but with every step he took closer to her, she seemed to slip farther away from him.

Their eyes met as she dropped the hand down slightly in front of her. She mouthed soundless words at him. The color from her face was draining. He tried harder to run towards her, she was just out of reach. But he couldn't reach her, he was getting angry. What the fuck was going on? He felt a panic in his chest. Lucy needed him. She needed him and he couldn't get to her. She was dying in front of him and there was nothing he could do.

He tried moving faster, but his legs felt heavy, like he was sinking into the ground. Lucy coughed, blood spurting from her lips, running down her chin and dripping into her lap. She reached towards him, their fingers almost touched. Her brown eyes were leaking with the red liquid and rolled into the back of her head and she fell backwards off the side of a cliff. Natsu reached out towards her as he watched her fall, his hand just centimeters from hers, but couldn't grasp in time. Her body moving like she was falling through water. The blood leaked from the wound on her chest and broadened over her whole body in dark red.

He screamed, sound finally leaving his lungs. Lucy went limp and fell into a blackness.

...

"Natsu? Natsu!" Lucy's voice woke him. He bolted up on the cot his eyes flying open to land on the worried pale face of his blonde partner. "Natsu? Are you ok?" She gripped onto his shoulders with both hands, her manicured finger nails were dirty. Her pale face was smudged with brown soot. He blinked and looked at her, temporarily stunned. His dream had felt so real. But there she sat in front of him, her brown eyes full of worry and her hands gripping onto his shoulders for dear life. He sighed, and closed his eyes.

_Thank god. _He reached out and wrapped her up in a tight hug. "Lucy. You're ok." He said it as if to try and convince himself.

"Natsu..." Lucy froze against his sudden embrace, "What happened? You screamed. Did you have a bad dream?" She reached up hesitantly to run the fingers of one of her hands through his hair trying to comfort him. The warmth of her body against his brought him back to reality. She was ok. It was just a nightmare. He inhaled her sweet morning dew and honey scent. Her lemon flavored body wash still lingered on her skin.

"It's ok Luce." Natsu pulled away from her, he smiled a big grin at her. He was worried that he had made her upset. "I'm ok I promise!"

She looked at him, her expression trying to read his, concern wrinkled onto her forehead. She sat back and dropped her hands into her lap. "Alright Natsu, but that was a really scary scream. I thought someone had died..."

He looked away from her trying to hide his anxiety from the blonde. He reached up and scratched the back of his head, "Haha Luce! I just had a scary dream is all. But it was just a dream so it's ok!" He flashed her his biggest smile and stood up quickly. He was suddenly really hungry.

"What time is it? I'm hungry?" Natsu looked around. Something was different in his house. He looked back and forth. "Huh?"

Lucy stood up and slapped her hands together, brushing the dusk off the palms of her hands. She sat down on the cot and sighed heavily, she looked tired. "It's probably time to eat dinner. You were out for awhile."

Natsu stared at his house. What was different about it? The wooden floor was bare, the table and kitchen were clean and sparkly, a pile of clothes were folded neatly on the dresser, outside he could see clothes hung up on a line swaying in the breeze. He remembered Lucy's dirty face and hands. He spun around to look at her.

"LUCY? Did you clean my house?!" He glared at the blonde who looked up at him shocked at his sudden angry expression. She had cleaned his house. Why? He loved his messy place!

"What?! Well, yea. I kind of picked up a little." She crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly on the defensive, "I couldn't even open the door when I came over to check on you." She turned her nose up in the air away from him, "It was fucking disgusting. You should be ashamed of yourself for living in that condition."

"That's why I go over to your place Lucy!" Natsu enjoyed his filthy mess, it was cluttered, dirty, grimmy, but he knew where everything was, this was too clean it didn't feel like his home, even the familiar musk was gone. "Why did you do that?! It smells weird in here now!" He looked sadly in the bare corner of the room, where all his clothes were piled up. Happy loved burying himself in that pile.

Lucy stood up, her face red, her fists clenched, "Natsu..." She shook her head and walked over to the table, slamming down a mission paper onto the table that she pulled from one of her pockets. "You won't... Don't... I'll NEVER!... You fu-" She was so flustered, she couldn't even come up with something that would express her anger.

Instead she just looked at him; her soft lips pursed, her brown eyes shiny, her eyebrows pushed together, the brown dirt on her face was smudged on her cheek, chin, forehead. He couldn't understand why she was so upset. He never asked her to clean his house, she did that all on her own accord. Why was she so mad about it? If anything he should be the one who was angry.

She stomped off towards the door, her back towards him, bringing her hand up to touch her face. He smelt salt, as she swung the wood door open and slammed it behind her. She was crying? He smelt tears.

He looked around the place. It was really, really clean. He walked over to the table to grab the mission slip. It was stamped by the guild, maybe Lucy had wanted to do this one with him? He could tell that her smell had penetrated into the clothes folded on the dresser. She had done all that work for his benefit. Yeah, he liked his dirty lifestyle, but Lucy took the time to tidy up his place, and she also comforted after his nightmare.

His nightmare.

It flashed in his mind, the bloody Lucy in his dream. The one soaked in her own blood. His chest tightened and his heart-rate quickened. Lucy. Somehow, his dream felt real, it felt like a premonition, it sat in his mind and dug into his being. His chest suffocated him, doubling in anxiety. Protecting Lucy, that was his most important responsibility. Natsu would protect her. His whole life he knew he would live to protect her.

He ran out the door, the mission slip in his grip.

LUCY

_Stupid stupid Natsu. _She had just spent the better part of her evening cleaning his filthy house. She had ruined her manicure, she was covered in dirt, she had washed all his clothes and dishes, and dusted everything. What the hell was wrong with him? Not even a thank you? Not even a fucking thank you. Like hell she would ever do something like that again, even if he asked her. Even if he paid her! She wouldn't step another foot on his property ever again.

She kept up the infuriating thoughts in her head as she walked out of the forest into town. By then she was ready to snap at anyone who dared to talk to her. She had reached her boiling point and was overflowing in anger. She needed to calm down, no way this was good for her skin.

Tears leaked down her cheeks, and she hated herself for it. Whatever, she shouldn't have expected Natsu to appreciate it. What was she expecting from cleaning his place up anyways? She just wanted to do something nice for him since he was always looking after her. But that was it. She would never do anything for him ever again. She sniffled and rubbed her eyes with the back of her forearm.

She was going home. She needed a long hot bath and a good nights sleep. Her body was sore from cleaning so much. She didn't think there could be that much dust and junk just laying around. Not to mention the disgusting blobs of half-eaten fish she found buried in the piles of dirty clothes and old mission stuff. Lucy felt like the rotten fish smell clung to her. It made her nauseous.

She walked up the her apartment and decided to not think about the pink-haired idiot for the rest of the night. She would deal with him tomorrow. She rubbed her head. The sunset was showering her street and building in a warm calming Autumn glow. She walked up the steps to her second story apartment, closing and locking the door behind her. She walked over to the window and double checked the new lock she had installed earlier that day. If that fire dragon slayer knew what was good for him, he would stay away tonight. She didn't want to deal with him anymore today. Just the thought of his stupid face pissed her off at the moment.

She stepped into the bathroom and quickly undressed herself, turning on the tub faucet. Warm steam quickly rose to the ceiling. It hugged at her bare skin, beckoning her towards the warm water. She stepped one foot in and felt her stress fall away from her.

She wouldn't leave this bathroom until she had scrubbed every speck of dirt she had acquired from Natsu's place off her skin.

The blonde script mage settled into the bath and grabbed her new lemon scented soap, pouring it onto a washcloth and running it over her bare wet skin.

NATSU

He had stopped by the market to grab something to eat. Since he had woken up, he had been starving. Satisfied he returned to his original mission. He needed to apologize to Lucy. His time spent with her had taught him that he needed to at least give her some space before approaching her after he had pissed her off. If he didn't wait long enough, it would re-open the issue and she would end up being just as mad at him as before.

The night sky was quickly devouring the last orange rays of the sun in its deep blue curtain as he walked up to Lucy's apartment. He looked up at her window. The light wasn't on, maybe she wasn't home yet. He figured this would be a great opportunity to grab another bite to eat before she got back and he climbed up onto the window sill.

He pushed against the glass and met resistance. He pushed harder. It didn't budge open easily like it normally did. He looked down.

She had bought a new lock. His face scrunched up. He had really pissed her off if she bought a new lock. Though the thin strip of metal was no match for a powerful mage like him. He simply pulled on the window till it opened just enough for him to slip a pink finger in between the window panels. The tip of his finger touched the metal holding the frames together, it grew red under his touch melting slightly, bending easier as he opened it more. The iron dragon smiled as he snapped the metal latch in his fingers, allowing the doors to slide open easily. He hoped inside quietly onto her bed, and bee-lined it for the fridge. He was half-way there when he heard Lucy from the bathroom.

She had splashed around, as she adjusted her weight in the tube. "Ugh... Stupid Natsu..." She was still fuming about it. "No. Lucy. You will not continue to think about him for the rest of the night." The ditzy blonde was talking to herself again. He turned his head as he listened to her.

"Mmm... I'm glad that I have this bath, it's worth the rent." She tapped the water and hummed, "It's like everything is melting away from me." She had paused for a moment but continued to hum to herself. "I should have brought a book in here to read." She said this quietly and sighed.

Natsu walked over to the bathroom door quietly, he wanted to make sure she was really ok. She sounded ok. She didn't seem like she was crying or was angry.

"Hmm..." He heard Lucy moan a little as she slid further into the water. He had seen her naked before plenty of times by accident. But something about knowing that the behind the door, the blonde was alone in the bath naked. It made his stomach flutter around. He felt his cheeks grow hot. He really wanted to see her. But she was already mad at him, so he knew it would be dangerous to barge in like he normally did.

"Stupid Natsu..." She said his name sleepily but without anger in her voice, "Will you ever understand?" She yawned and slipped under the water. He heard bubbles escaping at the surface until it was quiet.

_Understand what? _Natsu scratched his head as he walked over to the fridge and opened it up, his hunger returning to him.

* * *

><p><strong>YAY! NaLu! It's fluffy and a bunch of filler stuff. <strong>  
><strong>It will pick up, I promise. <strong>

**You are beautiful, (or handsome if you prefer that) and wonderful and good.  
>Thanks for reading. I'll try to post more soon. :)<strong>


	5. 5: Love

**I survived the torturous flight!  
>And managed to get some new chapters written.<br>Lucky you! :) **

**Oh and did anyone else just swoon over Gray in his butterfly shirt as much as I did in the last episode?**  
><strong>I tots heart the butterfly t-shirt Gray-sama!<strong>  
><strong>My husband thinks there is something wrong with me.<strong>  
><strong>He's probably right. But don't tell him that, k?<strong>

**Hiro Mashima. You're the raddest guy!**  
><strong>Keep it up you fabulous owner of Fairy Tail!<strong>

* * *

><p>LUCY<p>

She wiped the steam away from the mirror in her bathroom with the palm of her hand. The dirt that had collected under her nails had disappeared down the drain, along with her anger for the young dragon slayer. She was still irritated with him sure, but it really didn't matter to her anymore. Natsu had been acting strange lately anyways, that's why she had gone over to his place in the first place. She had wanted to make sure he was ok, but in her selfishness she had stormed out. The dim-witted dragon probably didn't have any clue to why she was angry with him. She sighed, the blonde knew how he was, and as much as he irritated her and said and did stupid things; in the end, it was his boyish innocent charm that she was drawn to. Those large determined eyes that looked at her wanting her to join him on adventures.

Natsu had given her a new life. She was no longer the rich heiress Lucy Heartfilia, but instead Lucy the celestial wizard of Fairy Tail. She was given a family whom she could count on, who loved her for being herself, and who would protect her with their lives. Lucy hadn't felt like she belonged somewhere since her mother had passed. Natsu had gave this new life to her. She would be forever grateful to him for that. The pink guild mark on her hand shone back at her, filling her with pride.

She finished drying her hair with a towel before running a brush through the dampened locks. Tomorrow she would find him and they would go on that mission together. Natsu needed to keep himself busy. She looked at herself in the foggy mirror and nodded, promising herself she would even apologize to the stupid fire mage for cleaning his place without his permission. Even though in the back of her mind she found that ridiculous. She would be the bigger person. She didn't like being angry with him, and she even found that she was disappointed that he never followed after her when she stormed out.

The blonde was feeling awfully emotional lately. She really just wanted him to sneak into her bed and cuddle with her. Having him around made her feel safe and wanted. _Ugh, I really shouldn't have reacted like that._ No way Natsu was coming over tonight. If he had caught on how angry she was, he'd probably leave her alone until tomorrow. Lucy always needed ample time to cool off after an angry outburst, even she knew that.

She wrapped the towel around her chest and opened the door, the cold air in the room touched her skin making her shiver. It was dark in her apartment. Even the light from the moon was dim tonight, hidden behind a thick layer of overcast in the sky. She preferred nights that were clear and bright, she liked the way the silver moonlight would cover the apartment in a metallic glow. She noticed that there was a cup on her table, it was steaming hot and the smell of freshly brewed tea hit her nose. _WHAT?!__  
><em>

Her mind panicked. She definitely never made tea before she got into the bath. She felt a cold breeze enter in from her open window. _OPEN. WINDOW._ Lucy had made sure that was locked before her bath. She spun around to look at the window over her bed. There was a dark figure sitting there, legs crossed, their head slumped over to rest sleepily in the palm of their hand that was propped up on the arm resting on one of their knees.

Lucy screamed out of reflex, and threw the cup of hot liquid at the dark shadowy person sitting on her bed. Her scream had startled the shadowy figure who bolted up and caught the cup in his hands. The hot tea on the floor, steamed catching the moonlight.

"Lucy! HEY! Calm down! It's me!" She recognized Natsu's voice and opened her eyes to look at the figure. Her eyes caught his pink hair flash in the dim light that came in through the window. She gripped at her chest, which was heaving heavily under the towel wrapped around her. She watched him get up to walk over to her, he was worried.

"No! Natsu!" She held out a hand at him to stop him from getting closer as she steadied her shaky legs grabbing onto one of the chairs at her table, which he ignored. "Natsu... You scared the crap out of me!" The blonde took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes, attempting to contain her heart that was beating out of her chest.

She felt Natsu rest a comforting hand over her own hand that was gripping the chair for dear life. "I'm real sorry Luce. I didn't want to scare you. I just wanted to talk to you about today, you seemed upset."

Lucy sighed, this was brave even for Natsu, her normal cooling off period hadn't expired yet. She relaxed her shoulders and opened her eyes to look at the dragon who stood next to her, his hand still placed over hers softly. Their eyes met, Natsu's dark eyes conveyed worry, his stare pierced right into her very being. She blushed and looked away, snatching her hand out from under his, gripping the towel tightly around her chest and took a step back away from him. She suddenly remembered she was in only a towel.

"NATSU!" The flustered blonde took another step back away from him. Natsu was worried, and the dragon slayer who had very little sense of personal space took a step towards her, closing the space between them further. He reached towards to to pull her into a hug. "Natsu! I'm in a towel! Please! At least let me get dressed before you get so close!"

The fire mage suddenly realized this for himself and stopped himself before he managed to completely wrap his arms around her. He leaned back slightly to look her up and down once seeing for himself that she was in fact only in a flimsy little towel. The blush grew over her face. He reached up to scratch the back of his neck, "Haha Luce! It's not like I haven't seen you naked before! And you're wearing a towel! Don't be so embarrassed!" She looked at him with shock.

How could he be so relaxed over this? She would never understand this guy! She had a lot of questions for him lately. The blonde, despite being terrified for a brief moment, was actually relieved when she had discovered it was only Natsu. She walked over to her dresser to grab her pajamas out of her top dresser, and scurried quickly into the bathroom. She couldn't talk to him in her current condition. "I'll be right back..." She said quietly to him as she closed the bathroom door behind her.

NATSU

He stood there, his arms at his sides as he watched her scamper off quickly to the bathroom to change. Why was this suddenly so awkward for him? He was always around Lucy, and had even barged in on her bath multiple times, but something about the way she had snatched her hand away from him and had blushed so furiously and shyly that had made him stop in his tracks. Normally he wouldn't have given the blonde time to react and would have just hugged her without thinking but his mind went blank; blank till the point that it kept him sitting on her bed mesmerized by her glowing body in the moonlight as she walked out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel.

She was really, really pretty. No doubt about that. He felt guilty about looking at her like that for some reason. The thought of her made his stomach flutter around and his heart beat heavy in his chest. He could still feel the blood pumping in his ears.

He went to sit down at the table and put his head in his hands. The pink-haired boy felt overwhelmed; something that very rarely happened. If it had ever happened before. He remembered his dream, the one where he had watched the bloody tore up Lucy's life slip away from him and anxiety gripped his chest. He really needed to calm down.

The dragon slayer took a few deep breaths forcing his composure to return to him. Lucy was here, she was safe. Sure she might have been a little flustered and she was definitely angry earlier but she was alive and well and safe. He pulled the mission paper from his pocket and unfolded it, placing it on the table in front of him.

It was the one Lucy had picked out for them. It seemed simple enough. Take a few days to carry a package on foot to a nearby village. Easy. Plus, that meant they wouldn't have to take the train or any other form of transportation. Lucy was always trying to accommodate the fire mage, avoiding transportaion whenever possible. He was grateful for that.

The blonde opened the door behind him, he didn't look at her, but he could feel her eyes on his back.

"Haha ok Natsu. Sorry about that." Lucy laughed nervously, "You just scared me is all."

He turned around to look at her. She was wearing long cotton pink drawstring pants and a matching tank top. Her blonde hair fell around her shoulders and she smiled big at him. Trying to brush off the awkwardness between them. Though he could tell her smile was halfhearted and slightly forced.

"What's wrong Luce?" He asked, he was concerned, she was definitely upset over something and he was almost positive that it was because of him.

"Oh. I'm fine Natsu. It's just been a long day is all." The blonde went to sit down on her bed, facing him, crossing her legs and holding her hands in her lap apprehensively.

"I'm really sorry for getting upset with you earlier." Natsu looked down, he felt really bad about that. "I knew you were just helping Happy and me out. I shouldn't have snapped at you. Thank you for taking care of us." He flashed her his biggest most genuine smile, hoping that the blonde's apprehension towards him would change.

Lucy smiled, and cocked her head to the side, she looked relieved. "I'm not mad Natsu. I shouldn't have just cleaned your place without asking. I know you and Happy enjoy your mess." She wrapped her fingers together and rung her hands together, "I was really worried I had upset you. I just wanted to do something nice for you since you are always looking after me…" She looked away, even in the dark he could see her blush, "I… I know how hard it is for you… around this time of the year."

The fire dragon slayer pushed back from the table, getting up. This time of the year was always a bit harder for him. It reminded him of the pain her felt when Igneel had disappeared, and his desperation to find him again. But during his and Igneel's time apart, Natsu had grown quite a lot. There were other things important to him and he had learned that if he ran away on impulse at every rumor about dragons he would end up worrying and hurting his precious friends. Right now, the most important thing to him was making Lucy feel better.

"Awh, don't worry about it Luce." He walked over and sat next to her on the bed, "I have important things I need to take care of in my life. Igneel is out there, and I will find him, but right now I just really need to be with Lucy." He put his arm around her and pulled her into a hug. His precious, wonderful, pretty, smart partner was bigger and more important to him than the pain he felt from loosing Igneel.

"I'm sorry for making you cry earlier. That was mean." He felt her relax against him, and he felt instantly relieved, "Why don't we go on that mission tomorrow? We can find Happy in the morning and leave after breakfast."

"Haha sounds good to me Natsu." She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she leaned her body weight into his side more.

LUCY

The warmth from his body filled her, the angst and nerves that she had felt moments earlier slipped away from her as she leaned herself into her partner, letting the fire dragon wrap his strong arm around her waist to hold her close to him.

"I'm beat Luce." Natsu leaned back onto the bed and pulled her with him as he threw the covers over both of them.

She didn't even feel awkward when he did this. Natsu would always be there for her, even if she was mad at him, or if things felt awkward. Natsu would always be there for her, he would never leave her side. And that was the only thing that was important to her.

She cuddled against his chest feeling the internal heat that always radiated off him. It comforted her as he pulled the covers over them and pulled her against his side, like he didn't want her to leave him. She felt herself slip away into her warm dreams, her aching muscles soothed by the heat coming from her partner. She rested her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. She had done this before, but right now it felt like more. Something had shifted slightly between the two of them, she just couldn't really place it. Her thoughts were becoming foggy and she felt heavy all over. Sleep was consuming her senses.

"Lucy…" Natsu spoke, being oddly quiet, "I think that you're really pretty."

"Huh?" Lucy was in between slipping into sleep and half-wondered if she was dreaming. Why the hell was he saying weird things like that? Natsu never said anything like that. She must have dreamt it. She must be dreaming. The sleepiness made it seem less real.

He scratched his forehead with his free hand, "Yeah Lucy. I just figured it out a couple days ago… It feels weird." His voice was quiet, and he said it like he had discovered a great mystery.

"Haha. Ok Natsu…" Lucy was barely paying attention to him, she cuddled up against him and yawned again. Sleep was swollowing her quickly.

_"I think that you're really pretty."_ The dragon slayers powerful voice played over in her head. _"I figured it out a couple days ago…. It feels weird."_

She felt him reach a hand up to let his hands run through her hair, the hot tips of his fingers felt wonderful against her scalp.

"I don't know what to think Lucy. My mind is being really stupid lately." His quiet voice felt frustrated, "I don't know what's happening to me. Gajeel's been telling me weird things that I don't get at all, and that book Levy gave me is just making it worst." He kept playing with her hair, and rubbed circles onto the bare part of her lower back where Lucy's pink tank had ridden up. This woke her up slightly.

"Huh? Natsu…" Lucy blinked her eyes open, letting her consciousness return to her. She had caught some of what he said and figured he was upset about Igneel.

"It's ok to be upset about Igneel. He was really important to you..." Lucy looked up at him and watched his expression, which scrunched up more. Maybe that was the issue.

"No Luce, I mean yea, I want to find him but. There are more important things in my life now than just finding Igneel." He looked back at her, their eyes meeting, he smiled sweetly at her. "Like protecting you."

"Hehe. You don't need to protect me Natsu." Lucy smiled at him again, "I know I'm not that strong but I can look after myself. So if you feel like you need to go look for him you should go. But if it would make you feel better we can do that together."

He grinned and looked back at the ceiling. Lucy continued, "You've always been there for me, I just want to be there for you too. You're the most important person in my life. I'll be by your side for as long as you need me." She yawned, sleepiness was catching up to her again. "Don't worry Natsu, whatever's bothering you we will figure it out together."

She felt him tighten his arms around her as she returned her cheek to lay against his hard chest. She felt safe here. She could feel herself let go. It felt like a pressure in her chest was absorbed into the rest of her body. It melted away with Natsu's warmth.

Levy was right, she just needed to let go and come to terms with her feelings. She loved the dragon who's arms she laid in wrapping her in a safe hold. She felt a relieving feeling blossom over her chest. It felt like her heart was light and happy. She felt the sting of tears hit the back of her eyes as a smile cross over her face as she pushed herself into his comforting warmth.

She loved him. Nothing would change that, and maybe he would never love her back like that but she was ok with that. Lucy would become an asset to her partner, she would be who he needed, she would be there for him regardless. Forever.

She inhaled, he smelt vaguely like a fireplace and smoke.

"I'll always be your best friend and I'll always be there for you. I love you Natsu. We will figure it out together. Promise." She whispered into his bare chest, yawned, and felt him take a relaxing breath in, he was quiet. She could feel his thoughts ticking away. Lucy sighed and she drifted back into sleep.

NATSU

"I'll always be your best friend and I'll always be there for you. I love you Natsu. We will figure it out together. Promise." She sighed against his chest, her hot breath caressing his bare chest.

_"I love you Natsu."_ Her voice echoed over and over. Love.

He looked down at her, watching the blonde in his arms drift into sleep. Her face was quiet, a small grin tugged at her lips; her soft, perfect lips. Her blonde hair was almost gold in the moonlight. He ran his fingers through it again, it was silky in between his fingers and fell through his lose grasp like water.

Love.

The warmth from her body was absorbing his own. he traced his fingers over the bare spot on her lower back in small circles, her soft cool skin forgiving against his rough fingers. Hmm. He swooned over the feeling of her soft skin against the tips of his warm fingers.

Love.

He felt her body against his. Her supple curvy body was pushed up against his side and fit against him like a puzzle piece. He inhaled and her fresh clean smell filled his lungs. The blonde was everything to him. He felt like a cold wave crashed over him. He held her closer, like he wanted to fuse them together, so they would never be apart. Lucy was now a huge part of him life. She was more important than Igneel, more important than the guild, more important than his own life.

Love.

Was that was this feeling was? He didn't read about that in Levy's book, and Gajeel never mentioned it either. But he remembered something Igneel had briefly mentioned to him, when Natsu asked about what love was one time.

_"It's something you'll feel for someone who you care deeply for." The red dragon nudged Natsu with his snout, implying his deep adoration for his small human fire dragon slayer with his actions. _  
><em>"But how will I know I'm in love?" Natsu looked up at his foster father with curiosity.<em>  
><em>"You'll feel it in your whole being and you'll know." Ingeel nodded and said nothing more about the issue.<em>

Love. He looked down at Lucy who squirmed against him in her sleep, letting out a soft sigh. It felt like all the pieces of his mysterious puzzle of feelings were finally falling into place as he watched her sleep. They clicked together inside his heart and he felt overwhelmed. It hit him like a piece of the sky falling on his face. There was a slight panic in his chest. What would happen? What did it mean to love another person?

_"I love you Natsu." _Her voice played over on repeat in his head. She loved him back? Was it a love like Natsu felt for her? He didn't know, and this bothered him. He wished Gildarts was there to help him. His father figure would definitely be able to help Natsu sort all this out. When would be come back? Natsu didn't think he would be able to wait that long. But maybe he would have no choice to wait. Gajeel wasn't helpful at all.

_"I love you Natsu." _Maybe, she felt the same way as he did.

The fire mage sighed and closed his eyes. He loved Lucy, he knew that. He felt it with his whole being, just like Igneel had told him it would.

"I love you too Lucy." He whispered into her head of blonde hair taking in her morning dew and honey smell that he could never get enough of.

* * *

><p><strong>I've re-read it multiple times and it feels like its missing something.<br>****I ended up having to write part of it on my phone, and Ipad after my laptop died on my flight,  
>so my groove was thrown off multiple times.<strong>

My trip is going swimmingly so far! It's hotter here than back home so I'm enjoying  
>the extra summer weather while it lasts. Maybe I'll be able to get a good tan while I'm here.<p>

**You're awesome and wonderful and beautiful. Thanks for being rad-tastic.  
>:)<strong>


	6. 6: Autumn

**Hey lovelies!**

**Thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited, reviewed and read this cute story.**  
><strong>I'm having fun with it. Natsu's innocent charm is just so damn cute!<strong>

**Anyways, I'm planning on writing for a few hours every night before bed.**  
><strong>I've always found it helps combat insomnia, and I hate making you all wait for new chapters.<strong>

**Hiro Mashima. I am unworthy to borrow your genius. I**  
><strong>hope I can bring the same amount of life and depth to your characters as you do.<strong>

* * *

><p>LUCY<p>

The next mornings ray's of yellow sunshine flooded her apartment. She yawned and blinked her eyes open as they adjusted to the bright morning sunshine. She remembered bits and pieces of her and Natsu's conversation last night. He had seemed very preoccupied and upset about something. She shrugged it off, she was positive it was because of Igneel. Lucy was lying on her side looking out at her apartment, trying to collect her thoughts.

Today her and Natsu were going to start that new mission. She went over her packing list in her head as she struggled to decide if she should get up yet or not. Her bed was comfortably toasty and the chilly autumn morning air that swirled into her place from the open window, made it especially difficult to want to get up.

_I'm going to need to pack a few days change of clothes..._ Her mind was busy trying to decide what she should bring. The weather was at that funny place in between the shifting of the seasons where one day it was unbearably hot, and the next it was freezing cold. She knew should should plan for both. She started to shift and push herself up onto her elbow as she laid on her side but was stopped by a warm arm wrapped possessively around her waist.

"Urrggh..." Natsu moaned in his sleep and he pulled her closer into him with his brute strength, squeezing the air out of her lungs.

"N-NA-STU!" Lucy struggled against him, trying to either wake the sleeping dragon who clung to her, or at least escape his strong clutches. "N-NAT-SUU! Wake up! Pl-ease!" She grabbed at the arm wrapped around her, trying to pry her away from him. She thrashed about which was enough to shake the fire dragon from his deep sleep.

"LUCY!" Natsu sat up quickly and pulled her into a big hug. He was such a morning person. She coughed hard, trying to retrieve the air that was so forcefully squeezed from her lungs. Natsu let her go and looked at her. Torment troubled his face as she coughed violently. "Lucy? Luce, are you ok?"

He leaned over to take a look at her face, and placed a warm hand on her back, rubbing it in circles and patting it slightly as she regained her composure. "Lucy? What's wrong? What happened?"

Lucy shook her head as the last few quieted coughs left her. She took a deep breath in and turned to look at him to tell him not to hug her so hard. But before she could scold him, Natsu grabbed her face in-between the palms of his hands, squishing her cheeks together. The pink-haired dragon forced their eyes to meet, his brows were furrowed in distress, and he studied her face for any signs of trauma.

They were really, really close. Lucy could feel the warmth of his breath of her lips, their eyes starring into each others. Natsu's face was full of worry and concern. He had been like this more lately, extra sensitive to Lucy, taking far more interest in her general safety and well-being. She blushed violently and felt her ears and cheeks become hot. The flustered spirit mage pushed herself away from his fierce stare and got up from the bed. "I'm fine Natsu. Really." She turned to smile at him, hoping it was genuine enough for the dragon slayer.

He stood up next to her and placed the back of his hand against her forehead, like he was checking for fever. Lucy knew this was an absolutely ridiculous action made by the dragon slayer, whose own internal body heat ran far higher than everyone else's. She doubted Natsu even knew why people did that. She chuckled and grabbed his wrist sweetly, pulling it away from her head. "Natsu... I'm alright I promise." She looked back at him, smiling and chuckling at his desperation to ensure she was ok. "I don't have a fever. I feel fine."

"Are you sure Luce? Your face is all red and you were coughing when I woke up..." Natsu wasn't going to drop it. Lucy knew that if a shred of doubt lingered in his mind, she would never hear the end of it. Natsu couldn't know that she was coughing because he had hugged her so hard, or that she was blushing because he had been do close to her face.

She shrugged as she walked over to the fridge to pull out food for breakfast. "I'll feel better after breakfast Natsu. I'm probably just hungry." She knew that would work, Natsu always felt sick when he was hungry.

"Oh. Ok Lucy." He walked over next to her as she pulled out stuff from the fridge. "Can I help?" He picked up the carton of milk she had set on the counter and looked at it like is was a strange new substance he had never seen before.

_Help? Make breakfast?!_ What was going on with this dragon slayer? She turned to look at him with fear in her eyes. Natsu never helped make breakfast. He was always the one who demanded it, then waited at the table till it was done.

"Uhm.. Uh yeah... sure Natsu." She studied his face, he didn't seem sick at all. Maybe it was a fluke thing. He smiled down at her. "Alright LUCY! Let's make breakfast!" He reached up to shuffle her hair, something he never did. She thought she felt him hesitate and caress a lock of her blonde hair in a loving manner before removing his hand from the back of her head. But Lucy quickly forced the thought to the back of her thoughts; that was ridiculous.

"Let's find Happy and leave on that mission today Luce." He stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, watching her prep the ingredients, transfixed by her actions.

She nodded and continued to make breakfast, asking the dragon to hand her this or that from the drawer randomly as he watched her. There was something off about the dragonslayer. She just couldn't put her finger on it. Maybe she was just imagining it.

* * *

><p>Later that day<p>

NATSU

It was after lunch before Lucy, Happy and Natsu had finally started to walk out of the town to begin their small mission. They had met up with the older couple earlier that day, and had picked up a small rectangular wooden box, that was held together with a small latch. It was pretty plain, but heavy despite it's small appearance. They were instructed to, under no circumstances, open the wooden box. It was to go directly to the museum in the next town over and be given to the director.

Natsu and Happy had wanted to open it as soon as they has walked out of town, but the blonde celestial mage had snatched it from the dragon's hands and placed it carefully into her brown backpack.

_"No! We were told to never open this box Natsu!" Lucy snatched it out of his hands, as he greedily flicked open the small latch.  
>"BUT LUCY! Don't you want to know what's inside it!?" Natsu pleaded with her, Happy tried flying down to snatch it back from her. But the blonde had to much experience with the duo and quickly hid it in the folds in her backpack, out of their needy grasps.<br>"No. I don't. Our job was to deliver this, not look at it." She held her bag across her chest, and glared at the two._

Natsu was now sulking next to her, his arms crossed over his chest, cheeks puffed out. Lucy ignored him and the blue cat's obvious pouting. She had moved the bag back onto her back when she felt she had made her point clear enough. She wouldn't let them take the box from her. There was one thing that Lucy definitely was, and that was stubborn. He loved that about her and internally longed to grab her up into a hug and tell her how wonderful she was. She was stubborn, sassy and could normally always reason with him. While he kind of hated it, it also made him more intrigued by her. She was firm, but sweet, and silly. Maybe before Natsu wouldn't have cared so much, and would have just taken back the small box by force, but he knew it would upset her so he restrained himself. He'd have to open it later when she was asleep. She didn't always let him have what he wanted, and she was firm in her beliefs, even if sometimes she wasn't strong enough to protect them by herself. He respected her unwavering loyalty to the job at hand.

Natsu glared at her from the corner of his eye, she was smiling, eyes closed. Her blonde hair swirled around her face as a cold breeze caressed her. It made her morning dew and honey smell flood Natsu's senses. She sighed, her generous chest lifting and falling. He felt his angst fall away from him. Everything was ok when Lucy was around. He just wanted to make her happy and he suddenly felt like he was acting a bit childish. Lucy was right. They shouldn't open the box, even if he really wanted to. It was the right thing to do. But he still didn't like it at all, and was grumpy she had ruined the fun.

"It sure is beautiful out today." She turned to look at the pouting dragon slayer who walked next to her. Happy flew over them, trying to come up with a solid plan to take the backpack from Lucy. He hmpf'd at her and turned his face away. She was being no fun right now.

"Oh come on Natsu..." She bumped her hip against his playfully, she winked at him, "Let's enjoy ourselves." The sudden flirtatious behavior from the blonde had startled Natsu, who was busy in his own thoughts about the blonde next to him. Her flirty wink made his heart skip around. The sun shone down on her, making her blonde hair glow golden in the sunlight. She flashed her brightest smile at him like she was just happy to be there with him. "It's so nice Natsu. I love Autumn. It's my favorite season." She reached out to try and grab a reddish brown leaf that had fallen from the canopy above them, it fluttered just out of her grasp. Lucy laughed and her sing-song voice filled the forest. "Awh.." She moaned a little disappointed, as the breeze took the fallen leaf farther away from her.

Natsu reached out to snatch the leaf out of the air. He twirled the leaf in his pointer finger and thumb by it's hardened stem. What was so special about this leaf? What did Lucy see in it? He studied it as he tried to sort it out. The seasons came and went around Natsu, he very rarely took the time to acknowledge the changing of nature around him. Granted, he knew a nice day when he was in it, though to Natsu there wasn't any weather that he didn't really enjoy. He enjoyed the summer, because it was hot outside and everyone would go to the pool, he liked Autumn because Mira always made pies, he liked winter because he enjoyed watching the snow melt against his fire, and spring was so colorful and made the town buzz with activity and excitement. But Natsu never really took any time to "smell the flowers", there was simply to much to do.

"Though... It's kind of sad isn't it." Lucy sighed as she looked at him, Natsu met her large brown eyes. She looked happy, but there was a touch of sadness in her expression, "I feel like the trees look so sad without their leaves during winter. They seem so hesitant to let them all go. They seem so lonely..." Her voice trailed off as she looked up at the canopy, the wind knocked a few more leaves loose, and they fell to the ground softly, skipping across the trail letting the wind take them.

The fire mage looked down at the leaf he twirled in his fingers, the red veins webbed over the cracked dried up brownish leaf, even the edges were chipping slightly. Lucy had a point, soon winter would be there and all the trees would become bare and gray in the cold weather. He lowered the leaf down to hold it in front of his partner's face as he looked at her. Her usual bright face was sullen, but she continued to smile, like she was almost forcing herself too. This really bothered the dragon slayer.

"Don't worry Luce, they'll come back in the spring." Nastu tried easing her sudden sadness, Lucy was saddened by the weirdest things sometimes. The blonde reached up to grab the leaf from him with both hands. She cupped his warm, strong hand in both of hers as she looked at the leaf he held daintly by the stem in between his fingers. She was thinking about something, and it was making her upset. She ran a thumb over Natsu's, and brought the leaf closer to her face, almost touching her lips to his skin as she gazed at the leaf that was almost as big as her face.

The blonde smiled and nodded, "Yeah... You're right Natsu. Everything in life needs renewal. It's like the forest is resetting itself, it's making itself better, and grows more beautiful every year." She plucked the leaf out his fingers by the stem and let the wind catch it making it swirl up into the branches above them. She let her hands fall back to her sides. The sadness that had riddled her face floated away with the leaf in the Autumn breeze.

"You're so weird Lucy..." Happy called from over their heads. The blue cat giggled as he played around in the breeze, catching the gusts under his wings. "Right Natsu?! Isn't Lucy weird."

Natsu looked over at his partner, who he adored. There was nothing weird about Lucy. She fit together completely, there was nothing missing, she was everything. "Haha Lucy is just Lucy." She was Lucy, she would always be just Lucy. That was far more than enough for Natsu.

He reached over and laced his fingers through her soft fingers, holding her hand in a firm but comforting grip. She squeezed his hand back absentmindedly, she was away in her own thoughts as they walked down the path hand-in-hand. Her glazed over eyes watched her feet step along the trail, but her brown eyes weren't really seeing with any real intent. He was concerned, she had suddenly became a little distant and seemed really upset about something. Surely it wasn't just about the leaves changing colors. He wanted to know what was going on in her head.

Natsu rubbed her guild mark with his thumb remembering the day when she had run up to him waving it above her head like it was her most prized possession. Lucy was his most important person, he was her most important person. Natsu felt like they belonged together, they belonged to each other. It was like in every possibility of every universe imaginable, Natsu and Lucy belonged together and they would find each other regardless of the circumstances. The fire dragon felt unbelievably happy and content. Who knew she would become someone so important to him over the years? Since day one, Lucy just fit into his life, she was that constant happiness that helped make him stronger. She gave him far more credit than he probably deserved. He felt needed and wanted with her around, he was someone important to her, and protecting and just being with her was something that for once, was far more important than finding Igneel.

_"I love you Natsu..." _She had said that last night and it drove him crazy. Did she really love him? Love him like he loved her? What would happen if he asked her about it? Did he want to risk losing her? Surely the question would freak her out regardless. He was worried that she only meant she loved his as a best friend, or partner. But he didn't think he could live with just being her partner. He wanted to know, but he didn't want to freak her out. The conflicting thoughts in his head battled and his need to know was stronger than her possibly freaking out. Even if she didn't love him now, he would become someone who she would love eventually.

Something about her holding his hand felt so natural, like she belonged next to him. He would never let her walk away, he would make sure his precious partner would be by him side forever. He would make sure of that. At that moment he didn't feel like he could love her any more. He wanted nothing more than to pull her into a tight hug and crash his lips against hers. He wanted to feel her soft forgiving flesh against his own.

The fire dragon slayer felt his internal heat grow hotter, he looked down at the blonde who was lost in her own thoughts walking beside him. He leaned in, wanting to feel her skin against his lips, but stopped right before he could brush her cheek with his lips. He wouldn't risk freaking her out, he remembered her reaction when they went fishing. The fire mage pulled away and looked down the trail, he wondered how long he could keep that up. It was getting harder resisting the confusing urges that were suddenly assaulting his senses.

LUCY

She hadn't even realized they were holding hands until Happy had said something. She had been thinking about her mother and father. They always had so much fun in the fall. She remembered watching the leaves change colors, playing in the fallen leaves in the garden with her mother. She was still to young to really grasp the severity of her mother's condition, and by the time fall came around again the next year, her mother was already gone. Leaving Lucy alone in the cold, grey, desolate winter. Her mother had always told Lucy how much she enjoyed watching the colors of the leaves change. Whenever Autumn came around it made Lucy feel a bit closer to her, but also filled her with a loneliness she could never quite shake.

She didn't really know how long they had been walking. It was getting darker out. The sun was setting over the horizon and the temperature was dropping. She shivered, and was glad she had packed a sweater in her backpack.

"OHHH. HE LOVES YOU!" Happy giggled overhead, doing flips in the chilly breeze. She felt the familiar warmth of her partner's rough hand laced in between her own slender fingers. _When did that happen? _

Lucy looked up at the dragon slayer who had tightened his hold on her slightly. She could see a tiny blush form over his cheeks as he looked away from her. She waited for him to say some snarky comment and pull his hand away. But he continued to hold her hand softly, and never denied or corrected the blue cat who was teasingly blowing kisses at them from above their heads. Instead he just glared at the cat who quickly quieted himself.

"Nat-su?" Lucy looked at him, worried he was suddenly feeling unwell. He usually became a slightly clingier when he was ill. "Are you feeling ok?"

"Yea Luce." Natsu still didn't look at her, "You... You seemed upset and were thinking so I didn't want you to fall accidentally. That's.. that's why I grabbed your hand." He stumbled over his words, but only a little and he let go of her and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"Are you sure Natsu?" She tried to get a better look at his face but he turned away, which was highly unlikely for the dragon slayer, who normally hid nothing from anyone.

He looked around and started walking through a small break in the forest alongside the path. "We should probably find somewhere to camp out soon, it's getting dark quickly."

"Hmm.." She nodded and followed after him through the bush. She would confront him on why he was acting so weird lately. She had wanted to do that the other night but ended up falling asleep way to soon. This would probably be the perfect moment to try and get him to talk some. Natsu was never someone who openly talked about his feelings or hardships. She hoped she could help him sort his troubles out that were causing this weird behavior.

By the time they had reached a small meadow in the forest, it was almost completely dark. Only a small orange haze clung to the sky. The ground was littered with fallen leaves and an old tree log that had fallen awhile ago cut through the middle of it.

"We will camp out here tonight." He kicked the loose leaves up into a pile and set them on fire, creating a small crackling flame, before sitting down to lean up against the fallen tree. "Happy can you go find some wood?" The blue cat was already on it, throwing a few kindling branches into the flame, making it slightly larger. He nodded as he flew off in search of more.

Lucy sat herself down next to her partner, who was still not acting like himself. His pink-hair glowed in the orange fire, and the flame flickered in the breeze, making shadows dance over his handsome face. He sighed and poked the flame with a stick, placing a large branch he had tore off the fallen tree onto the fire, feeding the flame.

The blonde felt the heat from the open flame hit her legs which she held against her chest. This heat was far harsher than the heat that came off Natsu. She wanted to just cuddle up to him so badly. It was getting really, really cold out.

She pulled a simple gray sweater out of her bag and pulled it over her head, pleased with herself that she had prepared so well. She made sure to bury the wooden box in her backpack under the change of clothes before zipping it closed and setting it next to her.

They hadn't said much since she came back from her thoughts earlier. Maybe she had done something to upset him? Happy flew back and placed the wood he had found next to the now working fire. Natsu set the end of a stick on fire and sucked up the flame, sighing as he enjoyed his dinner. Happy pulled out a fish from his bag and nibbled on it. Lucy decided now would be a good time to eat and pulled out a glossy green apple from her bag and bit into it. She felt Natsu glance over at her occasionally as he continued to snack on the flame in front of them. It made her feel weirdly uncomfortable and insecure.

After awhile, Happy fell asleep next to Natsu, Lucy was about to open her mouth to ask Natsu what was wrong when she felt him wrap an arm around her and pull her close to him. She felt him relax and he rested his head on the top of hers. She paused before deciding to continue to ask him what was wrong.

"Uh... Uhm... Natsu?" Lucy asked. It was her responsibility as him friend to get to the bottom of whatever was bothering him, "Natsu... Is there something on your mind that you want to talk about?" She felt like she might be prying to much but she really wanted to help him. He didn't answer for a long time. The crackling of the fire, and chirping of crickets the only sound around them. Thee sky was mostly a dark blue, shiny silver specks started dotting the heaven as the sun fell beyond the horizon. The glow from the fire making everything a warm orange color in the dark.

"Lucy..." He whispered into her hair, breaking the silence between them, "Luce... last night you said you loved me."

She froze. Lucy felt the blood drain from her face. Of course she loved him, but was she really ready to have this conversation right now? So soon after she had determined she had fallen completely head over heels for him, but decided to bottle it up to protect their precious friendship. "_I love you Natsu. We will figure it out together. Promise."_ She had slipped in her sleepiness. Dammit. How was she going to handle this?

"Because if you really love me..." Natsu continued, he was really quiet, his voice cracked slightly, "If you love me... I..."

Oh here it was. She was going to be turned down and dumped before anything even happened, she had ruined her friendship with him for sure. Nothing would ever be the same now. She felt tears sting her eyes and involuntarily fall down her cheeks. How could she be so stupid?

"I might..." Natsu paused, toying with how to continue. Those moments seemed like forever, it felt like Lucy's head was on a guillotine and all Natsu had to do was let go of the rope and finish her off.

"You know... well maybe... I really love you too..."

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><p><strong>AW! :):):)<strong>

**I hope you enjoyed it. **  
><strong>I decided to pick it up a little. I wanted to give Lucy a mini-heart attack (mean I know)<strong>  
><strong>and I always took Natsu as the type who couldn't dwell over something for long before needing to take action. <strong>  
><strong>What will Lucy do? Will she jump on this opportunity? Or will she fuck it up?<strong>

**I haven't decided on that yet.**

**Thank you all for being so patient and wonderful with me while I'm on vacation.**  
><strong>I'm trying to fit in time to write, but I've been surprisingly busy in the short few days I've been back.<strong>  
><strong>This is why I don't visit back home often. That means I have to go out and "do things". UGH!<strong>  
><strong>All I want to do is read and write fan-fic! I have problems! HELP!<strong>

**You are beautiful and wonderful as always.**  
><strong>I hope your October is going well so far.<strong>  
><strong>Thank you for being an amazing person!<strong>  
><strong>I am blessed to have you read my story!<strong>


	7. 7: Hole

**OH MY! I'm so happy that everyone enjoyed the last chapter so much!**  
><strong>I feel bad that I haven't been able to update more frequently...<strong>  
><strong>I'll try to find the time to update. But I apologize if it takes longer than normal.<strong>  
><strong>Two weddings less than 10 days apart is stressful... EEK! Please just make them stop!<strong>

**I am truly grateful for the support. You are all glorious and have inspired me to try my very best.**  
><strong>I absolutely love NaLu and I hope I can give them the story they deserve.<strong>  
><strong>If you have any suggestions please feel free to PM me, I am always open for ideas!<strong>

**I'm sorry, but I'm going to tease you all a little and make you wait for Present NaLu.  
>Future NaLu will be the front runner in this chapter.<br>If it gets confusing, please let me know. **

**Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail. I wish I did so I could make everyone a couple already.**

* * *

><p>9 Years into the Future<p>

LUCY

She sat at a table in a somewhat quiet corner of the guild hall. The blonde celestial spirit mage held her tiny blonde baby girl in her arms, as she fed her a bottle. The sleepy infant, not even a few months old, reached out to try and grab the bottle with her tiny clumsy fingers. The baby girl, who's eyes were brown just like Lucy's, looked up at her and smiled, the milky drool dribbling out of the corner of her tiny mouth.

"Layla..." Lucy cooed at her tiny new daughter, filled with motherly love, "That's not very lady-like..." She gently wiped the drool away with an extra blanket she had draped over a shoulder. The guild was surprisingly quiet today. _Wow, I wonder where everyone is? It's really quiet..._

Just as Lucy thought that, a loud bang came from the far end of the hall, followed by a slew of incoherent screams. Layla, shifted in her blanket, her tiny newborn face scrunching up in the beginnings of scream. "Shhh... Shhh..." Lucy tried to quiet the scarred baby in her arms before the tiny girl began to cry. She rocked her back and forth and gently covered her ears, attempting to block out the insane amount of yelling that was coming from the far end of the hall. She looked up to see if she could see what was happening. There was a big cloud of dust and rubble thrown about at the other end of the guild, Lucy couldn't make out what had happened and automatically grew weary. She felt her keys that were attached securely to her hip with a hand, preparing herself just in-case she had to use them.

"OUCH! FERRUM! You can't do that!" Lucy recognized her son, Atlas's voice from among the noise. She hear the malicious laughter from Gajeel and Levy's 6 year old daughter, Ferrum cut through the crashes. The dust from the wreck had settled slightly and Lucy could make out her pink-haired son and the wild black-haired girl wrestling around on the ground. Ferrum was tough despite her size and had managed to climb onto Atlas's back to wrap her tiny arms around his neck in a tight little chock hold. The second generation dragon slayer was trying hard to be careful with the tiny girl, while also trying to prevent her from tightening her grip around his neck.

"I WIN! I WIN!" Ferrum cheered eagerly. Her black hair a frazzled mess on her head, just like her father's and was tied back with a blue headband, her large hazel eyes were filled with murderous intent, "ATLAS SAY I WIN!" She had managed to wrap her legs around his waist and tried pulling back with her arms to cut the air off from the struggling 7 year old. They both were rolling around on the ground. Two small children ran and jumped on the pair on the ground, joining the fierce battle. The twins were Gray and Juvia's 4 year old twin boy and girl. The black-haired light-blue eyed girl, Ur, had covered everyone in a soft snow before leaping into it, helping Ferrum by pulling on Atlas's pink hair. Her fellow blue-haired, dark-blue eyed brother, Silver, stood back out of the way. He just stared at the wild black-haired second generation iron dragon slayer with wonder and awe.

"OK! OK! You win!" Atlas had given up, he was always very gentle with the girls who constantly beat up on him, even after Levy and Gajeel had told him it was ok for him to be rough back with their wild child. Ferrum squealed and hugged herself against him, "ATLAS! I BEAT YOU AGAIN! You know what that means!" She giggled and stole a kiss from his cheek before sticking a finger in her mouth and shoving it in his ear. Ur, who was still a bit to young to understand what was exactly going on, followed Ferrum's lead and stuck her own wet finger in Atlas's other ear. Lucy's son moaned and hid his head in his hands.

Lucy calmed down, seeing that it was only the guild's children. She sighed, they were all just as rowdy as their parents. Somethings would never change. She smiled and looked down to check on the baby in her arms who she had managed to quiet down and was getting sleepy from her bottle.

Gajeel walked out from the hole in the wall that must have been the cause of his daughter. He had a smug pleased look on his face, as he watched her wail relentlessly on Lucy's son. Gajeel had cut his hair shorter as he grew older. Lucy thought it suited him better. The once hard and anti-social iron mage had softened since the birth of his precious daughter. He was a lot less scary now, even despite the fact that he had grown far stronger than when he was in Phantom Lord those many years ago. He chuckled to himself before walking over and grabbing Ur and Ferrum by the back of their shirts lifting them off the defeated fire mage child.

"Daddy! I BEAT ATLAS AGAIN!" Ferrum squealed when she saw her father and reached out to wrap her tiny arms around his neck giving him a big hug. Gajeel set Ur down and patted the ice-make girl on the ground, who ran over to hug her brother who still hadn't taken his eyes off Ferrum yet.

"Does Mom know you guys are fighting in the guild? I thought we told all of you not to do that." Gajeel scolded her. Though Lucy could tell he had a hard time with it. Gajeel loved his destructive, feisty, overly confident daughter and encouraged her strength at every opportunity. He pointed at the giant hole in the wall, trying to be firm with her. Lucy could tell he was hiding a smirk. "I know Atlas wouldn't do that, and those two are still to young to make such a big mess." Ferrum looked away and crossed her arms over her chest, pouting. "Uh-huh. I see. Well, I guess that means you won't be able to get a new book at the library today." Ferrum started to open her mouth in protest, but quickly changed her mind when she saw her father's expression.

"What happened?!" Levy popped out from the other side of the giant hole in the guild hall wall. She shot her soured expression to look at her daughter who had returned to pouting in her father's arms. "Ferrum..."

"WOW! Who did this!? This is amazing!" Lucy heard her husband as he ran through the door towards the gaping hole in the wall. Atlas quickly stood up and dusted himself off when he heard his father's voice. The boy suddenly looked a little depressed.

"I DID!" Ferrum shot her hand up and Natsu looked at her dumbstruck, but quickly contained his excitement when he saw Gajeel and Levy's face.

"So... it was you Ferrum..." Gajeel glared and growled at his daughter who shrunk in his arms. Levy rubbed her head in her hands. Her daughter was such a handful.

"Haha! Don't be so hard on her Gajeel!" Natsu went over to place and hand on his sons shoulder. Atlas didn't look at him. Lucy could tell he was disheartened by Natsu's praise for the younger girl. Atlas was a great kid, he always looked out for the other kids, was never rough with any of them, and helped take care of his beloved little sister. The fire mage child tried so hard to follow the rules and be the "perfect" child, she knew that he had wished Natsu had praised him.

"Salamander..." Gajeel warned Natsu not to encourage his daughter who was already quite the handful.

"Your kids are teaching ours bad habits." Gray had walked over shirtless, and scooped up his twins in his bare arms. Silver struggled quietly against his father's arms trying to get a clear view of Ferrum. Ur gave him a wet willy and squealed in delight at her father's discomfort.

"Say's the stripper..." Gajeel and Natsu said that at the same time, Gray rolled his eyes and walked over to Juvia who smothered all three of them in kisses. Gajeel walked over to Levy and helped her over the rubble. Natsu spotted Lucy and Layla across the hall and smiled at her. He patted his son on the back and they walked over to her together sitting down at the table with her. Atlas held out his arms and Lucy placed his baby sister into his hold. He looked down at her with all the love in the world.

"Don't worry Layla. I just let her beat me up. Guys should never hit girls..." He whispered into her little ears and his baby sister blinked up at him, she smiled and cooed at him. "Someday you'll be strong too. Then you can help me get her back..." He smiled at her and rubbed his nose against her's.

Lucy rubbed her son's head and making him meet her gaze, "You are so wonderful Atlas. I am _so_ proud of you." She could see Atlas relax with her words. The boy knew they were proud of him, he just always longed for Natsu's approval. His beloved father was everything to him. The second generation dragon slayer vowed to become stronger than his father. The young boy already felt a huge entitlement to protect his family and the guild. He trained everyday pushing his small body to it's limits. Lucy sighed. He was so much like his father, all the best things of both of them wrapped into one. Atlas was really very mature for his age.

Natsu pulled Atlas close to him to kiss him on the forehead, "I'm so proud of you for watching all those little kids, it doesn't look easy. You're a great role model for them." Atlas's eyes lit up and he nodded, looking down at his little sister in excitement, "We're proud of you too Layla." He whispered that into his baby sister's ear who reached up to grab onto her brother's lower lips.

Natsu leaned over to kiss Lucy tenderly on the cheek. She looked at him, and he smiled at her seductively making her heart still skip around in her chest. "Natsu..." She half-scolded, half-giggled at his expression. "Hey Luce..." He nuzzled into her neck, taking in her smell, "How are you feeling today?"

"I'm all better, Natsu. Please don't worry." She had a rough delivery, it had taken a lot of of the celestial spirit mage. The fire dragon slayer wrapped his arms around her and rubbed his nose against her ear, his lips drug over the crook of her neck. It made her skin tingle, he always knew just how to touch her to make her body melt and ache for him. "You know I can't help it Luce..." He whispered quietly into her skin, she felt him smile into her neck. The blonde sighed and leaned back happy to let her husband cuddle up to her so warmly. Lucy was so simply happy. She loved her children and her husband more than anything in the entire world.

She looked out at her treasured guild and noticed just how much everyone had changed and grown over the years. The new batch of kids would soon be running things around here. Everything was going so perfect. Lucy felt like the luckiest woman on the planet.

Little did she know everything was about to change. The guild would soon be thrown into chaos.

* * *

><p><strong>It's short I know... I'm sorry. I hate writing short stories.<br>I just really wanted to be able to give you all SOMETHING in the meantime.  
>You have all been waiting so patiently and writing about future NaLu makes me bubble<br>with ridiculous happy warm-fuzzies.**

**Here's a little explanation on the kiddos names. Why I chose them the way I did...  
>Ferrum is Latin for iron. I found it cute and fitting for the offspring of GaLe.<br>Atlas is the name of the fire dragon who had helped Natsu defeat Future Rouge and Motherglare.  
>I decided against naming him Igneel. I feel like Natsu will always hold out hope he's still around.<br>Layla is Lucy's mother's name.  
>Ur and Silver are of course Gray's deceased foster mother-figurehis deceased father.**

**I hope you all enjoyed their little interactions. I'm already shipping their children.  
>I have serious issues. Someone please help me!<strong>


	8. 8: Fear

**I've had such little time to work on this chapter! I am so sorry!  
>I appreciate the patience. Still have over 2 weeks left on my "vacation".<br>Honestly its turning into more of a chore than anything.  
>I'm an introverted homebody and constantly going out and doing things in exhausting.<strong>

**Thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited, reviewed or just read up until now.**  
><strong>Thank you to those in the future as well!<strong>  
><strong>YOU ALL ROCK! :):)<strong>

**We're back to present day NaLu!  
><strong>**There is some violence and foul language in this chapter.  
>If things like that offend you, please tread lightly through this chapter.<br>Please enjoy!**

**Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail. I wish I was creative as he is.**

* * *

><p>NATSU<p>

"I love you Lucy..." The fire dragon slayer was actually nervous. He still rested his cheek against her blonde locks and tightened his hold around her waist. The celestial mage stiffened under him, he could almost feel the heat from her blush radiating off her face. She didn't say anything for a long time, which worried Natsu. For once he was actually really distressed, he knew he couldn't live without her, he knew he probably couldn't just be friends with her. He wanted the girl tucked against him all to himself, for the rest of his life. If she denied him mutual feelings... well, that was just something he wouldn't be able to accept.

"Lucy?" The silence was unbearable for him. The fire dragon slayer had no patience, and this was pushing his already very low limits. He was trying very hard to not pester a response out of the blonde. She sniffled and he could smell her salty tears. _Shit. _He lifted his head up and turned to look at her face, cupping his hand under her tear soaked chin to make her look at him. "Luce... Why are you crying? What's wrong?"

She looked back at him with her large brown doe eyes, tears were running down her cheeks, her expression looked relieved but was mixed with confusion and apprehension. A small smile tugged at the corners of her soft lips. She reached up to cup his face in her hands. She chuckled softly and even more tears fell down her face, collecting at the end of her chin and falling steadily into her lap.

Natsu's mind was in panic. _I broke Lucy! I freaked her out so much that I broke her!_ The blonde who held his face in her hands just kept crying. But she was smiling, what the heck was going on? Natsu was sure he had just mentally damaged his beautiful partner beyond repair. Maybe he would be able to throw her over his shoulder and run back to the guild, she needed to see Wendy. "Lucy? Please.. Are you ok? What's going on?" His eyes darted around, he grabbed her shoulders and glanced over her body checking for any signs of physical trauma. Maybe she was sitting on some weird plant or was bit by something and it was making her hallucinate.

"Natsu..." Her voice was quiet and tender. "Haha Natsu..." She looked at him, with the same love in her eyes that he looked at her with. "I love you too... more than anyth-"

That was all the fire dragon slayer needed to hear and he crashed his lips into her's. They were so unbelievably soft. The fire dragon had longed for this moment ever since that day fishing, maybe even beforehand. He felt her tense up, but the blonde quickly relaxed as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer to him. He ached to taste her, the heat inside him grew over his whole body. It was a different heat than when he was in the midst of a fight. That fire was quick, violent, like a volcano exploding. This heat bubbled up inside him like boiling water, growing steadily hotter and hotter until it boiled over the side sending steam everywhere.

He drug his tongue over her soft lips, and it sent shivers down his spine. He never felt this way before; this eagerness, this passion and desire he felt for the celestial spirit mage in his arms drove him absolutely crazy. His mind was in a passionate frenzy. He pushed her eagerly against the fallen tree stump they leaned against and shot his hot tongue into her wet mouth as she parted her lips to let him in. He fought against her tongue as he tried to taste every nook and cranny of her moist cavity. She tasted like apples.

A low moan fought its way from Lucy's throat, only feeding Natsu's desire. She was so just cute, so Lucy. He pulled back from her, breaking their kiss, wanting to see her whole face. Lucy's dazed brown eyes found him, and she smiled at him, a blush growing over her cheeks. She averted her eyes. Everything she did was brilliant, sexy, cute; Natsu loved making her blush and she was so damn cute when she acted shy. Which was far from her normal self. Her generous chest heaved as she caught her breath. He leaned in to kiss her again, but she stopped him by placing a small hand on his chest.

"What... what are we doing Natsu?" She didn't look at him as she whispered.

"Kissing..." Natsu simply stated and was suddenly confused by the odd question. What did she mean 'what were they doing'? He thought it was fairly obvious. The literal thinking dragon slayer couldn't grasp the hidden meaning in the question.

"No shit stupid..." She blushed harder, the red creeping it's way down her chest. Natsu watched the red seep into her chest, he wanted so badly to run his tongue over her collarbones and down in between her generous bosom. "I meant... why are we kissing?"

Huh? Wasn't that obvious too? "Because we want to Luce." He looked at her, confused. Maybe he had overreacted when he had kissed her and he had missed something, but she _had_ kissed him back. She _did_ say that she loved him. So if that was the case then kissing Lucy should have been fine. "You did say you loved me right?"

She looked at him, shocked at the bluntness of his response, "Well... Yes, of course... Of course I love you..." Her voice trailed off into barely a whisper, she looked away from him again. Why was she being so shy? "But what... what does that make us?" _Oh, that's what she meant._ He knew Lucy would become his mate for life, but he tried hard to come up with a way to say that without shocking the blonde senseless. As much as he wanted her, this would be something that would have to develop naturally. Natsu would have to choose his words carefully.

He grabbed her chin to make her meet his gaze, which was only inches away from her face. "Lucy..." He was about to answer her question when something else caught the dragon's attention before he could finish.

He stopped as he shot his head up, covering her mouth with his hand. He had smelt something. He sniffed the air, his hearing heightened. One... two... four... six. Six different smells started to surround them. Lucy froze under him, he knew she could read his reaction. Natsu had smelt and heard at least six people sneak up on them. He had been so preoccupied kissing Lucy, he had barely noticed the faint smells floating in from around the clearing.

He looked down at her, his eyes telling her that she better get ready. She just nodded slightly once, and he felt her reach for her keys that were attached to her waist, and her backpack on the ground next to them.

"OUI! I know your out there. You might as well come out." Natsu said into the forest, not bothering to yell as he stood up. The group was close enough to hear him just fine. Happy jolted awake, "Huh? What's going on Natsu?" The blue cat stood up and rubbed his eyes sleepily.

A deep threatening husky voice came from the wall of dense forest in front of them. "We know you have it. Hand it over and we promise not to hurt you... Though we may have to borrow that blonde from you too. She's a sexy little thing. I wouldn't mind having some fun with her myself." Lucy shivered as she shrugged the backpack onto her shoulders as she stood up next to him, she faced the opposite way from him, but he could feel her tense up at the comment.

Rage flooded Natsu's senses. Nobody would ever, ever touch Lucy, not as long as he was alive. Lucy hissed in disgust through her teeth. He growled as the explosive fire inside him made the air ripple around him. "You touch her, and you won't see morning."

Laughter swirled around them from all corners of the clearing. The husky voice spoke again to Natsu, the voice was closer, "Just give us that box you're moving and we promise not to hurt you or your little friends." Happy flew up into the sky, he was trying to spot their assailants from up above. Natsu smelt the air, the others surrounding them had also moved closer. He could hear the faint rustling of the leaves they walked on as they inched closer.

"Lucy..." He whispered her name, warning her to be careful, she nodded in understanding. He needed to get her out of there. He thought about having Happy fly her away, but without an actual look at their attackers there was really no way for him to know how strong they were. No doubt half the group would end up following her and the blue cat if they took off, and he wouldn't be able to protect them from so far away.

Finally, stepping out into the clearing in front of him, was a very very large man. His eyes burned a bright yellow, they were slitted like a snakes eyes, and the fire they had built reflected off them making them glow in the dark. He was wrapped up in a dark cloak and towered over Natsu,a balck haze surrounded him, making his features fuzzy to the dragon. Not that size or apprearance had ever mattered to Natsu, he had taken down far bigger and far more intimidating.

A grin covered Natsu's face, he could feel the fire building inside him itching to explode from out inside him. The fire dragon slayer reveled in a good fight. Maybe these six assailants would give him a good warm up. He had to blow off steam anyways from Lucy's and his first passionate kiss.

LUCY

She couldn't tell how many were there, but she knew there was at least a few more moving around in the trees surrounding her and Natsu. She gripped the leather pouch at her side and touched the cold keys with the tips of her fingers finding Loke's golden key. The celestial spirit was not only reliable in a tight space like the clearing, and he was more than capable of hand to hand combat. But without her knowing exactly what their assailants were capable off she didn't want to summon him quite yet.

The tall man behind her that stood in front of Natsu spoke again, is husky voice scratched against her ears like nails on a chalkboard. "Just hand over the box and we promise we will leave you three alone. I'm giving you 10 seconds..." She really didn't like this guy. Even if he hadn't made those comments about her, she would have still felt a vicious intent coming off of him. No way would she let herself get within arms reach of that guy. The thought made her blood run cold. "Otherwise I'll take the girl and make you watch as I have fun with her." _What a fucking sicko..._Lucy felt like she might throw-up.

Lucy felt Natsu flare up, fire springing to life all around him, the flames kissing her skin lightly but not burning her. She heard him growl in response. He was livid. Usually, her partner did the whole "I'm all fired up now!"response when he got pumped up in battle, but he just stood there his back to her's radiating in pure anger. She had very rarely caught glimpses of him like this beforehand. The dragon-slayer emitted the power and presence of an actual dragon, flames licked the dark sky. The shear power coming off him made her hair and clothes whip madly around her. She didn't even need to look at him to see how terrifying he had just become.

"Hahaha... So you're Salamander..." The husky voice chuckled at the sight of Natsu, seemingly unaffected by the dragon's intense overwhelming presence. "That's bad luck for us. No matter, all me have to do is get the box. Which I'm guessing is in that little girl's bag." Lucy clutched her keys with one hand and a strap on her shoulder with the other. She wouldn't let these criminals take it from her. She would protect it with her life. A mage of Fairy Tail would never give in to idle threats.

"Luce..." Natsu's voice reached her ears, he was quiet but his voice was stern and angry. "Luce... Be careful." She nodded and looked around the clearing, waiting to see if anyone would dare enter the open field with Natsu as pissed off as he was. Happy flew down to sit of the backpack that rested on her shoulders. "Should I take this Natsu?" He asked the fire dragon who shook his head. "We won't split up, there are to many of them, and I don't know what they can do yet..." Happy nodded and put on his best game face, clutching his little paws into fists. "We can take 'em Lushy..."

She nodded and saw a pink haze float in along the ground fast towards them. "Uhm... Natsu?" But just as that happened, two more guys stepped out of the trees beside their leader and leaped at the fire dragon, who charged at them. The pink mist touched Lucy's feet and she instantly felt sleepy, she fought it and tried to step away from it but it clung onto her and began creeping up her legs. _Oh no..._ She felt Happy grab onto her shirt to lift her up into the air but was stopped as a lasso wrapped itself around the blue cat, he fell to the ground in a soft thud, hitting the pink mist, and was instantly asleep. _Shit... Happy... Natsu..._ Lucy was getting dizzy, her eyes became blurry and her fingers wouldn't move to wrap around her keys. She heard muffled explosions in the distance as she swayed back and forth. She had to get back to Natsu. This was bad, definitely bad.

The blonde swayed and fell sideways, her vision delayed and blurry as she tried to search for Nastu. In the haze she saw three individuals step out of the clearing towards her. She blacked out as she hit the ground, the pink mist swallowing her up.

...

When Lucy woke up she was at another part of the forest. She blinked, her eyes were still hazy. Where was she? Where were Happy and Natsu? She reached for her keys but found herself tied securely to a thin tree. She struggled against the bondage. _Fuck... _It was no use. She looked around, her backpack was gone, her keys were gone, there was no sight or sound of Natsu or Happy anywhere. "Natsu? Happy?" She whispered into the darkness meeting silence. _Shit..._ This wasn't good._  
><em>

"Oh dear, they won't be able to find you. I'm afraid they're a little busy at the moment." She heard a soothing young female voice from in the darkness. A short bright pink haired girl, probably around 12 years old slithered into view in front of Lucy. She was dressed in pink shorts and a pink cut off shirt, her florescent white skin shining in the dulled moonlight. Her eyes were yellow and slitted just like the large man in the clearing. Lucy caught a flash of gold and silver from her waist, the girl had taken her keys and was wearing them like jewelry along her belt. The blonde felt her blood boil, those spirits were her responsibility. How dare that little brat do that to her keys. She plopped Lucy's backpack onto the ground in front of her. "Let's see what we have here."

The girl unzipped the bag and began throwing things out. Her change of clothes, a blanket, a couple green apples. The girl bit into one of the glossy fruits and instantly spit it out, "Ugh gross..." She threw the bitten apple over her shoulder and kept digging, becoming more frantic as she dug through Lucy's bag.

"Where is it?!" She shot her head up to look at Lucy, who didn't say anything. Lucy was glad she had removed the box from her bag sneakily and hid it under the fallen log once Natsu had smelled the intruders. The girl stood up and threw the bag on the floor, walking over to Lucy. She knelt before her, her yellow eyes filled with hatred. "Where. Is. It?" She grabbed Lucy's blonde hair and wanked hard on it. Lucy suppressed a wince and just stared at the girl. She wouldn't tell her anything. "I said..." The fushia haired girl slapped Lucy hard across her cheek, her nails scratching her skin, drawing blood. Lucy felt the harsh sting on her face and the warm liquid drip down her cheek. "Where the fuck is that box?"

"I don't know what you're talking about..." Lucy whispered, her voice shaking. She decided she would play the dumb blonde, oblivious and innocent. The girl slapped her again, only harder, drawing her nails back over the cuts, making them deeper. The sting and pain brought tears to Lucy's eyes. She noticed the large husky voiced man walk up behind the girl, it was like darkness followed him everywhere, she could barely make out his features. "Lilith..." His husky voice made Lucy go cold all over. She hated that man and figured she was in for a world of hurt. "What's going on?"

"The dumb bitch didn't have the box in her bag..." The girl stood up and kicked Lucy in the side. Lucy coughed, but tried to fight it back. She refused to be weak in front of these people.

"No? Did you ask her nicely where it was?" The man cooed as he patted the girl on the head. She shrugged him away folding her arms over her chest, "No. We don't have time for that Father. Where is the Salamander?"

"He's preoccupied for the moment. I managed to slip away while the boys kept him busy." The large ominous man walked over and knelt in front of Lucy. She looked away from his yellow eyes, trying to suppress the growing fear building in her gut. Her mind was in full blown panic mode.

Black smoke-like mist flooded off him, wrapping itself around her legs, up her torso like a snakes coiling around her body. It hugged her body erotically and made her feel sick all over. She felt like he was invading her very soul. She panicked, her mind a slew of disgusting terrifying thoughts. _This is his power... His daughter can put people to sleep, he fills them with fear. This is just a cause of the black mist..._ She figured it out quickly, but she was on the verge of a full blown anxiety attack, her chest was heaving against the rope binding her to the tree, her heart was beating out of her chest she could hear it in her ears. _Calm down Lucy. Calm down. It's ok. You're ok. Natsu will come. _But the visions didn't stop. The horrible thoughts of the large man beating her senseless, hurting Natsu and Happy, the large man taking pleasure upon her, forcing himself upon her. The images were horrible, dirty, wrong, vicious and painful. The black mist swirled around her neck, caressed her hair like the tentacle of an octopus.

Tears leaked from her eyes. She fought back against the onslaught of terrifying images and thoughts. "Oh shh... shhh little dove." The man knelt before her reached a cold hand up to gently brush the tears from her face, "I won't hurt you if you corporate. I'm very sorry about my daughter... young girls always have such a heartlessness about them at her age." Lucy shied away from his touch. She felt like she would throw-up, her stomach was in knots.

"Now then..." He leaned in close to her face, his breath was ice-cold and made Lucy cringe. The large man wrapped his hand behind her head comfortingly, he ran a finger over the fresh bleeding scratch marks on her cheek, smearing the blood in between in fingers as he looked at her, "Why don't you tell me where you put that box?"

NATSU

He had finished off the four guys in the field. None of them stood a chance against him. But as he looked around he determined he had no idea where he was. The tall yellow-eyed man had snuck off during their battle. Happy and Lucy were nowhere to be seen. Actually he hadn't heard anything from his partner in awhile. This concerned him, Lucy was always loud during a fight. He was sure she would be screaming profanities at someone. But the silence made him weary. This was not like Lucy.

He sniffed the air, her scent nowhere. He couldn't smell Happy's either. This was bad. Very very bad. He ran back to the clearing, following the broken trees and scorch marks he had made. He would find Lucy. He remembered his dream, the one of her bloody, and him not being able to save her in time. He wouldn't let that happen. He would find his beloved cat and precious beautiful partner. He would never let anything happen to them.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm not really an actionsuspense writer. I'm more about the lovely dovey stuff.**  
><strong>I pray that this was actually a decent attempt on my part.<strong>  
><strong>Please let me know what you thought.<strong>  
><strong>I'll try to continue it as soon as I get the time.<strong>

**Thank you for reading. You are beautiful and awesome!**


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